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AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA

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GIOTTO

AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA

BEING

AN EXPLANATORY NOTICE OF THE
FRESCOES IN THE ARENA CHAPEL

BY

JOHN RUSKIN, LL.D., D.C.L.

HONORARY STUDEN'T OF CHRIST CHURCH, AND HONORARY
FRLLOW OF CORPUS CHRIST! COLI.KGE, OXFORD

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

GEORGE ALLEN, SUNNYSIDE, ORPINGTON

AND

156, CHARING CROSS ROAD, LONDON

1900
[A// rights reserved]

Printid by P.amantvnh, Hanson <5>' Co.
At tlic Ballaiityne Press

EDITORIAL NOTE, 1899.

This work owes its existence to the Arundel
Society, who in the years 1853-60 issued a
series of thirty-eight large woodcuts, repro-
ductions of the majority of the frescoes in
the Arena Chapel at Padua. These appeared
gradually, and as they were completed, Mr.
Ruskin's " explanatory notice " of them was
also gradually written, and published by the
Society. Ultimately the work consisted of
two volumes, viz., first, a large atlas con-
taining, with a title-page and list of subjects,
the thirty-eight woodcuts, and secondly, a thin
volume (post 8vo) containing Mr. Ruskin's
introduction and account of the frescoes, to-
gether with two plans of the chapel, and a
woodcut of the Baptism of Christ from a

vi EDITORIAL NOTE.

thirteenth century missal.* The title-page of
the volume of illustrations was also decorated
with a vignette of a portion of the fresco
of " The Last Judgment."

The work, which has never been republished,
now appears in a new and more complete form,

* The title-page to the volume containing the text was
as follows : —

" GioUo / and his Works in Padua : / being / An Ex-
planatory Notice of the Series of Woodcuts / Executed for the
Arundel Society / after the Frescoes in the Arena Chapel. /
By John Ruskin. / Printed for the Arundel Society. / 1854."

This date is scarcely accurate, the work having appeared
in three Parts, I. containing the introduction and account
of frescoes I-14 in 1S53 (pp. 1-74); II. containing the ac-
count of frescoes 15-24 in 1854 (pp. 75-96) ; and the part
(pp. 96-124) forming Part III., and dealing with frescoes
23-38, 1S60. This last part being exhausted, it was re-
printed (June 1877) by the Society, and the whole issued as
one volume.

The woodcuts of the frescoes were also gradually issued.
The first fourteen are dated 1853; the next eight (15-23)
1854 ; after which Nos. 24-26 bore dale 1855 ; Nos. 27-28,
1S56; Nos. 29-30, 1857; Nos. 31-34, 1858; Nos. 35-36,
1859; and Nos. 37-3S, i860. The title-page ran as
follows : —

"Arena Chapel Padua. / A Series of Wood Engravings
from / The Frescoes of Giotto, / Illustrating the Lives of/
The \'irgin and our Savioiu' / Accompanied by an Ex-
planatory Notice written l)y / John Ruskin / Arundel
Society / i860.

EDITORIAL NOTE. VU

with the advantage of modern methods of
reproduction. The woodcuts of the Arundel
Society were from drawings of the frescoes ;
the present illustrations are from photographs
of the frescoes themselves. Both methods
fail, of course, in some instances. Thus in
the old woodcuts the copyist occasionally
missed a fact, or failed to catch an expres-
sion, or give some detail, as, for instance, in
No. IV. where he has not given the male
figure rising from the flames of the altar,
and in No. XXVI. where he has omitted
the scourge in the hand of Christ. The
illustrations in the present volume give every
detail, with the fulness and accuracy of a
photograph. They fail sometimes to give
the tone, — a dark blue background, for in-
stance, appearing in a lighter tone, as in
Nos. X. and XII., — and they necessaril}' suffer
from the great reduction in size.* When,
however, it is remembered that the figures in

* The woodcuts of the Arundel Society were aljout twelve
inches square, printed on sheets nearly twice that size. Each

AUTHOR'S NOTE

TO THE FIRST EDITION (1854).

The following notice of Giotto has not been
drawn up with any idea of attempting a
history of his life. That history could only
be written after a careful search through
the libraries of Italy for all documents re-
lating to the years during which he worked.
I have no time for such search, or even for
the examination of well-known and published
materials ; and have therefore merely col-
lected, from the sources nearest at hand,
such information as appeared absolute)}'
necessary to render the series of Plates now
published by the Arundel Society intelligible
and ' interesting to those among its Members
who have not devoted much time to the

xii author's note.

examination of mediaeval works. I have
prefixed a few remarks on the relation of
the art of Giotto to former and subsequent
efforts ; which I hope may be useful in
preventing the general reader from either
looking for what the painter never intended
to give, or missing the points to which his
endeavours were really directed.

J. R.

CONTENTS,

PAGE

Editorial Note, 1899 ..... v

Author's Note, 1854 xi

List of Illustrations xv

Introduction i

Series of Subjects 58

Appendix 165

Index 195

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Christ in Glory Frotiiispiece

The Rejection of Joachim's Offering To face page 64
Joachim retires to the Sheepfold
The Angel appears to Anna .
The Sacrifice of Joachim
The Vision of Joachim .

nest

The Meeting at the Golden Gate
The Birth of the Virgin .
The Presentation of the Virgin
The Rods are brought to the High Pi
The Watching of the Rods
The Betrothal of the Virgin .
The Virgin returns to her House
The Angel Gabriel .
The Virgin Annunciate .
The Salutation
The Angel appearing to the Shepherds
(The Nativity) ....

XV

66

6S

73

75
76

78
81

83
85
87
90
92
94
97

99

XVI

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

The Wise Men's Offering

The Presentation in the Temple

The FHght into Egypt

The Massacre of the Innocents

The Young Christ in the Temple

The Baptism of Christ

The same from an MSS., 1290

The Marriage in Cana

The Raising of Lazarus .

The Entry into Jerusalem

The Expulsion from the Temple

The Hiring of Judas

The Last Supper

The Washing of the Feet

The Kiss of Judas .

Christ before Caiaphas .

The Scourging of Christ .

Christ bearing His Cross

The Crucifixion

The Entombment .

The Resurrection

Tlie Ascension

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

To face

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57
59

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,

XVll

APPENDIX.

The Last Judgment . . . To face page 169

Angels delivering tlie Chapel to Enrico

Scrovegno . . . . „ ,,170

THE VIRTUES.

Prudence

Fortitude

Temperance

Justice

Faith

Charity

Hope

172

174

175
176
179
180
182

THE VICES.

Despair .

.

Envy

Infidelity .

. •

Injustice .

Wrath .

Inconstancy

•

Folly ■ .

, ,

184

185
187

188
191

192

193

GIOTTO

AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

I. Towards the close of the thirteenth
century, Enrico Scrovegno, a noble Paduan,
purchased, in his native city, the remains of
the Roman Amphitheatre or Arena from the
family of the Delesmanini, to whom those
remains had been granted by the Emperor
Henry III. of Germany in 1090. For the
power of making this purchase, Scrovegno
was in all probability indebted to his father,
Reginald, who, for his avarice, is placed by
Dante in the seventh circle of the Inferno,
and regarded apparently as the chief of
the usurers there, since he is the only one
who addresses Dante.* The son, having

* "Noting the visages of some who lay
" Beneath the pelting of that dolorous fire,
" One of them all I knew not ; but perceived
" That pendent from his neck each bore a pouch,

A

2 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

possessed himself of the Roman ruin, or
of the site which it had occupied, built him-
self a fortified palace upon the ground,
and a chapei dedicated to the Annunciate
Virgin.

2. This chapel, built in or about the year

" With colours and with emblems various marked,

" On which it seemed as if iheir eye did feed.

" And when amongst them looking round I came,

" A yellow purse I saw, with azure wrought,

" That wore a lion's countenance and port.

" Then, still my sight pursuing its career,

" Another I beheld, than blood more red,

" A goose display of whiter wing than cuid.

" And one ivho bore a fat and azure swine

" Pict2ired oji his white scrip, addressed vie thus:

" What dost thou in this deep ? Go now and know,

" Since yet thou livest, that my neighbour here,

" Vitaliano, on ray left shall sit.

" A Paduan with these Florentines am I.

" Ofttimes they thunder in mine ears, exclaiming,

" Oh 1 haste that noble knight, he who the pouch

" W^ith the three goats will bring. This said, he writhed

" The mouth, and lolled the tongue out, like an ox

" That licks his nostrils." Canto xvii.

This passage of Gary's Dante is not quite so clear as that
translator's work usually is. " One of them all I knew
not" is an awkward periphrasis for "I knew none of
them." Dante's indignant expression of the effect of
avarice in withering away distinctions of character, and
the prophecy of Scrovegno, that his neighbour Vitaliano,

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA, 3

1303,* appears to have been intended to
replace one which had long existed on the
spot; and in which, from the year 1278, an
annual festival had been held on Lady-day,
in which the Annunciation was represented
in the manner of our English mysteries (and
under the same title : " una sacra rappre-
sentazione di quel mistcro "), with dialogue,

then living, should soon be with him, to sit on his left hand,
is rendered a little obscure by the transposition of the word
"here." Cary has also been afraid of the excessive homeli-
ness of Dante's imagery; "whiter wing than curd " being
in the original "whiter than butter." The attachment of
the purse to the neck, as a badge of shame, in the Inferno,
is found before Dante's time ; as, for instance, in the
windows of Bourges cathedral (see Date iii. of MM. Martin
and Cahier's beautiful work). And the building of the
Arena Chapel by the son, as a kind of atonement for the
avarice of the father, is very characteristic of the period,
in which the use of money for the building of churches
was considered just as meritorious as its unjust accumulation
was criminal. I have seen, in a MS. Church-service of the
thirteenth century, an illumination representing Church-
Consecration, illustrating the words, " Fundata est domus
Domini supra verticem iiKintium," surrounded, for the pur-
pose of contrast, by a grotesque, consisting of a picture of
a miser's death-bed, a demon drawing his soul out of his
mouth, while his attendants are searcliing in his chests for
his treasures.

* For these historical details T am chiefly indebted to the
very careful treatise of .Selvatico, Sulla Cappellhia degli
Scrovegni ndV Arena di Padova. Padua, 1836.

4 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

and music both vocal and instrumental.
Scrovegno's purchase of the ground could
not be allowed to interfere with the national
custom ; but he is reported by some writers
to have rebuilt the chapel with greater costli-
ness, in order, as far as possible, to efface
the memory of his father's unhappy life. But
Federici, in his history of the Cavalieri
Godenti, supposes that Scrovegno was a
member of that body, and was assisted by
them in decorating the new edifice. The
order of Cavalieri Godenti was instituted in
the beginning of the thirteenth century, to
defend the " existence," as Selvatico states
it, but more accurately the dignity, of the
Virgin, against the various heretics by whom
it was beginning to be assailed. Her knights
were first called Cavaliers of St. Mary ; but
soon increased in power and riches to such a
degree, that, from their general habits of life,
they received the nickname of the " Merry
Brothers." Federici gives forcible reasons
for his opinion that the Arena Chapel was
employed in the ceremonies of their order;
and Lord Lindsay observes, that the ful-
ness with which the history of the Virgin is

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 5

recounted on its walls, adds to the plausibility
of his supposition.

3. Enrico Scrovegno was, however, towards
the close of his life, driven into exile, and died
at Venice in 1320. But he was buried in
the chapel he had built ; and has one small
monument in the sacristy, as the founder
of the building, in which he is represented
under a Gothic niche, standing, with his
hands clasped and his eyes raised ; while
behind the altar is his tomb, on which, as
usual at the period, is a recumbent statue
of him. The chapel itself may not unwar-
rantably be considered as one of the first
efforts of Popery in resistance of the Re-
formation : for the Reformation, though not
victorious till the sixteenth, began in reality
in the thirteenth century ; and the re-
monstrances of such bishops as our own
Grossteste, the martyrdoms of the Albigenses
in the Dominican crusades, and the murmurs
of those "heretics" against whose aspersions
of the majesty of the Virgin this chivalrous
order of the Cavalieri Godenti was instituted,
were as truly the signs of the approach of
a new era in religion, as the opponent work

6 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

of Giotto on the walls of the Arena was a
sign of the approach of a new era in art.

4. The chapel having been founded, as
stated above, in 1303, Giotto appears to have
been summoned to decorate its interior walls
about the year 1306, — summoned, as being
at that time the acknowledged master of
painting in Italy. By what steps he had
risen to this unquestioned eminence it is
difficult to trace ; for the records of his life,
strictly examined, and freed from the verbiage
and conjecture of artistical history, nearly
reduce themselves to a list of the cities of
Italy where he painted, and to a few anecdotes,
of little meaning in themselves, and doubly
pointless in the fact of most of them being
inheritances of the whole race of painters,
and related successively of all in whose
biographies the public have deigned to take
an interest. There is even question as to
the date of his birth ; Vasari stating him to
have been born in 1276, while Baldinucci,
on the internal evidence derived from Vasari's
own narrative, throws the date back ten
years.* I believe, however, that Vasari is

* Lord Lindsay, Christian Art, vol. ii. p. l66.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. J

most probably accurate in his first main state-
ment ; and that his errors, always numerous,
are in the subsequent and minor particulars.
It is at least undoubted truth that Giotto
was born, and passed the years of childhood,
at Vespignano, about fourteen miles north
of Florence, on the road to Bologna. Few
travellers can forget the peculiar landscape
of that district of the Apennine. As they
ascend the hill which rises from Florence
to the lowest break in the ridge of Fiesole,
they pass continually beneath the walls of
villas bright in perfect luxury, and beside
cypress-hedges, enclosing fair terraced gar-
dens, where the masses of oleander and
magnolia, motionless as leaves in a picture,
inlay alternately upon the blue sky their
branching lightness of pale rose-colour, and
deep green breadth of shade, studded with
balls of budding silver, and showing at in-
tervals through their framework of rich leaf
and rubied flower, the far-away bends of
the Arno beneath its slopes of olive, and the
purple peaks of the Carrara mountains, toss-
ing themselves against the western distance,
where the streaks of motionless clouds burn

8 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

above the Pisan sea. The traveller passes
the Fiesolan ridge, and all is changed. The
country is on a sudden lonely. Here and
there indeed are seen the scattered houses
of a farm grouped gracefully upon the hill-
sides,— here and there a fragment of tower
upon a distant rock ; but neither gardens,
nor flowers, nor glittering palace-walls, only
a grey extent of mountain-ground, tufted
irregularly with ilex and olive : a scene not
sublime, for its forms are subdued and low ;
not desolate, for its valleys are full of sown
fields and tended pastures ; not rich nor
lovely, but sunburnt and sorrowful ; becom-
ing wilder every instant as the road winds
into its recesses, ascending still, until the
higher woods, now partly oak and partly
pine, drooping back from the central crest
of the Apennine, leave a pastoral wilderness
of scathed rock and arid grass, withered away
here by frost, and there by strange lambent
tongues of earth-fed fire.* Giotto passed the
first ten years of his life, a shepherd-boy,

* At Pietra Mala. The flames rise two or three feet
above the stony ground out of which they spring, white
and fierce enough to be visible in the intense rays even
of the morning sun.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 9

among these hills ; was found by Cimabue,
near his native village, drawing one of his
sheep upon a smooth stone ; was yielded up
by his father, "a. simple person, a labourer
of the earth," to the guardianship of the
painter, who, by his own work, had already
made the streets of Florence ring with joy ;
attended him to Florence, and became his
disciple.

We may fancy the glance of the boy, when
he and Cimabue stood side by side on the
ridge of Fiesole, and for the first time he saw
the flowering thickets of the Val d'Arno ; and
deep beneath, the innumerable towers of the
City of the Lily, the depths of his own heart
yet hiding the fairest of them all. Another
ten years passed over him, and he was chosen
from among the painters of Italy to decorate
the Vatican.

5. The account given us by Vasari of the
mode of his competition on this occasion, is
one of the few anecdotes of him which seem
to be authentic (especially as having given rise
to an ItaHan proverb), and it has also great
point and value. I translate Vasari's words
literally.

lO GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

''This work (his paintings in the Campo
" Santo of Pisa) acquired for him, both in the
" city and externally, so much fame, that the
" Pope Benedict IX. sent a certain one of his
" courtiers into Tuscany, to see what sort of a
" man Giotto was, and what was the quahty of
" his works, he (the pope) intending to have
"some paintings executed in St. Peter's ; which
" courtier, coming to see Giotto, and hearing
"that there were other masters in Florence
**who excelled in painting and in mosaic,
" spoke, in Siena, to many masters ; then, hav-
" ing received drawings from them, he came
" to Florence ; and having gone one morning
" into Giotto's shop as he was at work, ex-
" plained the pope's mind to him, and in what
" way he wished to avail himself of his powers,
" and finally requested from him a little piece
"of drawing to send to his Holiness. Giotto,
" who was most courteous, took a leaf (of
"vellum?), and upon this, with a brush
" dipped in red, fixing his arm to his side, to
" make it as the limb of a pair of compasses,
"and turning his hand, made a circle so
" perfect in measure and outline, that it was
" a wonder to see : which having done, he said

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. I I

" to the courtier, with a smile, * There is the
"drawing.' He, thinking himself mocked,
"said, 'Shall I have no other drawing than
" this ? ' * This is enough, and too much,'
" answered Giotto ; * send it with the others :
" you will see if it will be understood.' The
"ambassador, seeing that he could not get
" anything else, took his leave with small satis-
" faction, doubting whether he had not been
"made a jest of. However, when he sent to
"the pope the other drawings, and the names
"of those who had made them, he sent also
" that of Giotto, relating the way in which he
"had held himself in drawing his circle,
" without moving his arm, and without com-
" passes. Whence the pope, and many intel-
"ligent courtiers, knew how much Giotto
" overpassed in excellence all the other painters
" of his time. Afterwards, the thing becoming
"known, the proverb arose from it: 'Thou
" art rounder than the O of Giotto ; ' which
" it is still in custom to say to men of the
" grosser clay ; for the proverb is pretty, not
"only on account of the accident of its
" origin, but because it has a double meaning,
" ' round ' being taken in Tuscany to express

I 2 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

" not only circular form, but slowness and
" grossness of wit."

6. Such is the account of Vasari, which, at
the first reading, might be gravely called into
question, seeing that the paintings at Pisa, to
which he ascribes the sudden extent of Giotto's
reputation, have been proved to be the work
of Francesco da Volterra ;* and since, more-
over, Vasari has even mistaken the name of
the pope, and written Benedict IX. for Boni-
face VIII. But the story itself must, I think,
be true ; and, rightly understood, it is singu-
larly interesting. I say, rightly understood ;
for Lord Lindsay supposes the circle to have
been mechanically drawn by turning the sheet
of vellum under the hand, as now constantly
done for the sake of speed at schools. But
neither do Vasari's words bear this construc-
tion, nor would the drawing so made have
borne the slightest testimony to Giotto's power.
Vasari says distinctly, " and turning his hand "
(or, as I should rather read it, " with a sweep
of his hand"), not "turning the vellum ; " neither

* At least Lord Lindsay seems to consider the evidence
collected by Forster on this subject conclusive. Christian
Art, vol. ii. p. 1 68.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. I 3

would a circle produced in so mechanical a
manner have borne distinct witness to any-
thing except the draughtsman's mechanical
ingenuity ; and Giotto had too much common
sense, and too much courtesy, to send the
pope a drawing which did not really contain
the evidence he required. Lord Lindsay has
been misled also by his own careless translation
of "pennello tinto di roffo " ("a brush dipped
in red,") by the word " craj'on." It is easy
to draw the mechanical circle with a crayon,
but by no means easy with a brush. I have
not the slightest doubt that Giotto drew the
circle as a painter naturally would draw it ;
that is to say, that he set the vellum upright
on the wall or panel before him, and then
steadying his arm firmly against his side, drew
the circular line with one sweeping but firm
revolution of his hand, holding the brush long.
Such a feat as this is completely possible to a
well-disciplined painter's hand, but utterly im-
possible to any other ; and the circle so drawn
was the most convincing proof Giotto could
give of his decision of eye and perfectness of
practice.

7. Still, even when thus understood, there

I 4 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

is much in the anecdote very curious. Here
is a painter requested by the head of the
Church to execute certain rehgious paintings,
and the only quahfication for the tasic of
which he deigns to demonstrate his posses-
sion is executive skill. Nothing is said, and
nothing appears to be thought, of expression,
or invention, or devotional sentiment. No-
thing is required but firmness of hand. And
here arises the important question: Did Giotto
know that this was all that was looJced for by
his religious patrons ? and is there occult
satire in the example of his art which he
sends them ? — or does the founder of sacred
painting mean to tell us that he holds his own
power to consist merely in firmness of hand,
secured by long practice ? I cannot satisfy
myself on' this point : but yet it seems to me
that we may safely gather two conclusions
from the words of the master, •' It is enough,
and more than enough." The first, that
Giotto had indeed a profound feeling of the
value of precision in all art ; and that we may
use the full force of his authority to press the
truth, of which it is so difficult to persuade
the hasty workmen of modern times, that the

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. I 5

difference between riglit and wrong lies within
the breadth of a. line; and that the most
perfect power and genius are shown by the
accuracy which disdains error, and the faith-
fulness which fears it.

8. And the second conclusion is, that what-
ever Giotto's imaginative powers might be, he
was proud to be a good workman, and willing
to be considered by others only as such.
There might lurk, as has been suggested,
some satire in the message to the pope, and
some consciousness in his own mind of
faculties higher than those of draughtsman-
ship. I cannot tell how far these hidden
feelings existed ; but the more I see of living
artists, and learn of departed ones, the more
I am convinced that the highest strength of
genius is generally marked by strange uncon-
sciousness of its own modes of operation, and
often by no small scorn of the best results
of its exertion. The inferior mind intentl}^
watches its own processes, and dearl}' values
its own produce ; the master-mind is intent
on other things than itself, and cares little for
the fruits of a toil which it is apt to under-
take rather as a law of life than a means of

1 6 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

immortality. It will sing at a feast, or retouch
an old play, or paint a dark wall, for its daily
bread, anxious only to be honest in its fulfil-
ment of its pledges or its duty, and careless
that future ages will rank it among the gods.

9. I think it unnecessary to repeat here any
other of the anecdotes commonly related of
Giotto, as, separately taken, they are quite
valueless. Yet much may be gathered from
their general tone. It is remarkable that they
are, almost without exception, records of
good-humoured jests, involving or illustrating
some point of practical good sense : and by
comparing this general colour of the reputa-
tion of Giotto with the actual character of his
designs, there cannot remain the smallest
doubt that his mind was one of the most
healthy, kind, and active, that ever informed
a human frame. His love of beauty was
entirely free from weakness ; his love of truth
untinged by severity ; his industry constant,
without impatience ; his workmanship ac-
curate, without formalism ; his temper serene,
and yet playful ; his imagination exhaust-
less, without extravagance ; and his faith firm,
without superstition. 1 do not know, in the

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. IJ

annals of art, such another example of happy,
practical, unerring, and benevolent power.

I am certain that this is the estimate of his
character which must be arrived at by an
attentive study of his works, and of the few
data which remain respecting his life ; but I
shall not here endeavour to give proof of its
truth, because I believe the subject has been
exhaustively treated by Rumohr and Forster,
whose essays on the works and character of
Giotto will doubtless be translated into Ensr-
lish, as the interest of the EngHsh public in
mediaeval art increases. I shall therefore here
only endeavour briefly to sketch the relation
which Giotto held to the artists who preceded
and followed him, a relation still imperfectly
understood ; and then, as briefl}^, to indicate
the general course of his labours in Italy, as
far as may be necessar}^ for understanding the
value of the series in the Arena Chapel.

lO. The art of Europe, between the fifth
and thirteenth centuries, divides itself essen-
tially into two great branches, one spring-
ing from, the other grafted on, the old
Roman stock. The first is the Roman art
itself, prolonged in a languid and degraded

I S GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

condition, and becoming at last a mere formal
system, centered at the seat of Eastern empire,
and thence generally called Byzantine. The
other is the barbarous and incipient art of
the Gothic nations, more or less coloured by
Roman or Byzantine influence, and gradually
increasing in life and power.

Generally speaking, the Byzantine art,
although manifesting itself only in perpetual
repetitions, becoming every day more cold and
formal, yet preserved reminiscences of design
originally noble, and traditions of execution
originally perfect.

Generally speaking, the Gothic art, although
becoming every day more powerful, presented
the most ludicrous experiments of infantile
imagination, and the most rude efforts of un-
taught manipulation.

Hence, if any superior mind arose in Byzan-
tine art, it had before it models which sug-
gested or recorded a perfection they did not
themselves possess ; and the superiority of
the individual mind would probably be shown
in a more sincere and living treatment of the
subjects ordained for repetition by the canons
of the schools.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 1 9

In the art of the Goth, the choice of subject
was unlimited, and the style of design so re-
mote from all perfection, as not always even
to point out clearly the direction in which
advance could be made. The strongest minds
which appear in that art are therefore gener-
ally manifested by redundance of imagination,
and sudden refinement of touch, whether of
pencil or chisel, together with unexpected
starts of effort or flashes of knowledge in
accidental directions, gradually forming various
national styles.

II. Of these comparatively independent
branches of art, the greatest is, as far as I
know, the French sculpture of the thirteenth
century. No words can give any idea of the
magnificent redundance of its imaginative
power, or of the perpetual beauty of even its
smallest incidental designs. But this very
richness of sculptural 'invention prevented
the French from cultivating their powers
of painting, except in illumination (of which
art they were the acknowledged masters),
and in glass-painting. Their exquisite gift
of fretting their stone-work with inexhaust-
ible wealth of sculpture, prevented their

2 0 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

feeling the need of figure-design on coloured
surfaces.

The style of architecture prevalent in Italy
at the same period, presented, on the contrary,
large blank surfaces, which could only be
rendered interesting by covering them with
mosaic or painting.

The Italians were not at the time capable of
doing this for themselves, and mosaicists were
brought from Constantinople, who covered the
churches of Italy with a sublime monotony
of Byzantine traditions. But the Gothic blood
was burning in the Italian veins ; and the
Florentines and Pisans could not rest content
in the formalism of the Eastern splendour.
The first innovator was, I believe, Giunta of
Pisa, the second Cimabue, the third Giotto ;
the last only being a man of power enough
to effect a complete revolution in the artistic
principles of his time.

12. He, however, began, like his master
Cimabue, with a perfect respect for his Byzan-
tine models ; and his paintings for a long time
consisted only of repetitions of the B3^zantine
subjects, softened in treatment, enriched in
number of figures, and enlivened in gesture.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 2 I

Afterwards he invented subjects of his own.
The manner and degree of the changes which
he at first effected could only be properly
understood by actual comparison of his designs
with the Byzantine originals ; * but in default
of the means of such a comparison, it may be
generally stated that the innovations of Giotto
consisted in the introduction, A, of ga3^er or
lighter colours ; B, of broader masses ; and,
C, of more careful imitation of nature than
existed in the works of his predecessors.

A. Greater lightness of colour. This was
partly in compliance with a tendency which
was beginning to manifest itself even before
Giotto's time. Over the whole of northern
Europe, the colouring of the eleventh and
early twelfth centuries had been pale : in
manuscripts, principally composed of pale red,

* It might not, I think, be a' work unworthy of the
Arundel Society, to collect and engrave in outline the com-
plete series of these Byzantine originals of the subjects of
the Arena Chapel, in order to facilitate this comparison.
The Greek MSS. in the British Museum would, I think, be
amply sufficient ; the Harleian MS. numbered l8io alone
furnishing a considerable number of subjects, and especially
a Death of the Virgin, with the St. John thrown into the
peculiar and violent gesture of grief afterwards adopted by
Giotto in the Entombment of the Arena Chapel.

2 2 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

green, and yellow, blue being sparingly in-
troduced (earlier still, in the eighth and ninth
centuries, the letters had often been coloured
with black and yellow only). Then, in the
close of the twelfth and throughout the thir-
teenth century, the great system of perfect
colour was in use ; solemn and deep ; com-
posed strictl}^, in all its leading masses, of
the colours revealed b}-- God from Sinai as
the noblest ; — blue, purple, and scarlet, with
gold (other hues, chiefly green, with white
and black, being used in points of small
masses, to relieve the main colours). In the
early part of the fourteenth century the
colours begin to grow paler; about 1330 the
style is already completely modified ; and at
the close of the fourteenth century the colour
is quite pale and delicate.

I have not carefully examined the colouring
of early Byzantine work ; but it seems always
to have been comparatively dark, and in
manuscripts is remarkably so ; Giotto's paler
colouring, therefore, though only part of the
great European system, was rendered notable
by its stronger contrast with the Byzantine
examples.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 23

B. Greater breadth of mass. It had been
the habit of the Byzantines to break up their
draperies by a large number of minute folds.
Norman and Romanesque sculpture showed
much of the same character. Giotto melted
all these folds into broad masses of colour ;
so that his compositions have sometimes
almost a Titianesque look in this particular.
This innovation was a healthy one, and led
to very noble results when followed up by
succeeding artists : but in many of Giotto's
compositions the figures become ludicrously
cumbrous, from the exceeding simplicity of
the terminal lines, and massiveness of un-
broken form. The manner was copied in
illuminated manuscripts with great disad-
vantage, as it was unfavourable to minute
ornamentation. The French never adopted
it in either branch of art, nor did any other
Northern school ; minute and sharp folds of
the robes remaining characteristic of Northern
(more especially of Flemish and German)
design down to the latest times, giving a great
superiority to the French and Flemish illumi-
nated work, and causing a proportionate in-
feriority in their large pictorial efforts. Even

24 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

Rubens and Vandyke cannot free themselves
from a certain meanness and minuteness in
disposition of drapery.

C. Close imitation of natui'e. In this one
principle lay Giotto's great strength, and the'
entire secret of the revolution he effected. It
was not by greater learning, nor by the dis-
covery of new theories of art, not by greater
taste, nor by " ideal " principles of selection,
that he became the head of the progressive
schools of Ital}^ It was simply by being
interested in what was going on around him,
by substituting the gestures of living men for
conventional attitudes, and portraits of living
men for conventional faces, and incidents of
every-day life for conventional circumstances,
that he became great, and the master of the
great. Giotto was to his contemporaries pre-
cisely what Millais is to Jiis contemporaries,
— a daring naturalist, in defiance of tradition,
idealism, and formalism. The Giottesque
movement in the fourteenth, and Pre-
Raphaelite movement in the nineteenth cen-
turies, are precisely similar in bearing and
meaning : both being the protests of vitality
against mortality, of spirit against letter, and

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 2$

of truth against tradition : and both, which
is the more singular, Hterally hnks in one
unbroken chain of feehng ; for exactly as
Niccola Pisano and Giotto were helped by
the classical sculptures discovered in their
time, the Pre-Raphaelites have been helped
by the works of Niccola and Giotto at Pisa
and Florence : and thus the fiery cross of
truth has been delivered from spirit to spirit,
over the dust of intervening generations.

13. But what, it may be said by the reader,
is the use of the works of Giotto to tis?
They may indeed have been wonderful for
their time, and of infinite use in that time ;
but since, after Giotto, came Leonardo and
Correggio, what is the use of going back to
the ruder art, and republishing it in the year
1854? Why should we fret ourselves to dig
down to the root of the tree, when w^e may
at once enjoy its fruit and foliage ? I answer,
first, that in all matters relating to human
intellect, it is a great thing to have hold of
the root : that at least we ought to see it, and
taste it, and handle it ; for it often happens
that the root is wholesome when the leaves,
however fair, are useless or poisonous. In

26 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

nine cases out of ten, the first expression of
an idea is the most valuable : the idea may
afterwards be polished and softened, and made
more attractive to the general eye ; but the
first expression of it has a freshness and
brightness, like the flash of a native crystal
compared to the lustre of glass that has been
melted and cut. And in the second place,
we ought to measure the value of art less by
its executive than by its moral power. Giotto
was not indeed one of the most accomplished
painters, but he was one of the greatest men
who ever lived. He was the first master of
his time, in architecture as well as in painting;
he was the friend of Dante, and the undis-
puted interpreter of religious truth, by means
of painting, over the whole of Ital}^ The
works of such a man may not be the best to
set before children in order to teach them
drawing ; but they assuredly should be studied
with the greatest care by all who are interested
in the history of the human mind.

14. One point more remains to be noticed
respecting him. As far as I am aware, he
never painted profane subjects.. All his im-
portant existing works are exclusively devoted

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 2 7

to the illustration of Christianity. This was
not a result of his own pecuHar feeHng or
determination ; it was a necessity of the
period. Giotto appears to have considered
himself simply as a workman, at the command
of any employer, for an}^ kind of work, how-
ever humble. " In the sixty-third novel of

* Franco Sacchetti we read that a stranger,
' suddenly entering Giotto's study, threw

* down a shield, and departed, saying, ' Paint
' me my arms on that shield.' Giotto look-

* ing after him, exclaimed, * Who is he ?
' what is he ? He sa3^s, ' Paint me my

* arms,' as if he was one of the Bardi.
' What arms does he bear ? ' " * But at the

time of Giotto's eminence, art was never
employed on a great scale except in the ser-
vice of religion ; nor has it ever been other-
wise employed, except in declining periods.
I do not mean to draw any severe conclusion
from this fact; but it is a fact nevertheless,
which ought to be very distinctly stated, and
very carefully considered. All progressive art
hitherto has been religious art ; and com-
mencements of the periods of decline are
* Notes to Rogers' Italy.

2 8 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

accurately marked, in illumination, by its
employment on romances instead of psalters ;
and in painting, by its employment on myth-
ology or profane history instead of sacred his-
tory. Yet perhaps I should rather have said,
on heathen mythology instead of Christian
mythology ; for this latter term — first used,
I believe, by Lord Lindsay — is more appli-
cable to the subjects of the early painters than
that of " sacred history.'" Of all the virtues
commonly found in the higher orders of
human min ', that of a stern and just respect
for truth seems to be the rarest ; so that
while self-denial, and courage, and charity, and
religious zeal, are displayed in their utmost
degrees by myriads of saints and heroes, it
is only once in a century that a man appears
whose word may be implicitly trusted, and
who, in the relation of a plain fact, will not
allow iiis prejudices or his pleasure to tempt
him to some colouring or distortion of it.
Hence the portions of sacred history which
have been the constant subjects of fond
popular contemplation have, in the lapse of
ages, been encumbered with fictitious detail ;
and their various historians seem to have

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 29

considered the exercise of their imagination
innocent, and even meritorious, if they could
increase either the vividness of conception or
the sincerity of belief in their readers. A due
consideration of that well-known weakness of
the popular mind, which renders a statement
credible in proportion to the multitude of local
and circumstantial details which accompany it,
may lead us to look with some indulgence on
the errors, however fatal in their issue to the
cause they were intended to advance, of those
weak teachers, who thought the acceptance of
their general statements of Christian doctrine
cheaply won by the help of some simple (and
generally absurd) inventions of detail respect-
ing the life of the Virgin or the Apostles.

15. Indeed, I can hardly imagine the Bible
to be ever read with true interest, unless, in
our reading, we feel some longing, for further
knowledge of the minute incidents of the life
of Christ, — for some records of those things,
which " if they had been written every one,"
the world could not have contained the books
that should be written : and they who have
once felt this thirst for further truth, may
surely both conceive and pardon the earnest

30 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

questioning of simple disciples (who knew
not, as we do, how much had been indeed
revealed), and measure with some justice the
strength of the temptation which betrayed
these teachers into adding to the word of
Revelation. Together with this specious and
subtle influence, we must allow for the instinct
of imagination exerting itself in the acknow-
ledged embellishment of beloved truths. If
we reflect how much, even in this age of
accurate knowledge, the visions of Milton have
become confused in the minds of many persons
with scriptural facts, we shall rather be sur-
prised, that in an age of legends so little
should be added to the Bible, than that occa-
sionally we should be informed of important
circumstances in sacred history with the col-
lateral warning, " This Moses spak not of." *

More especially in the domain of painting,
it is surprising to see how strictly the early
workmen confined themselves to representa-
tions of the same series of scenes ; how little
of pictorial embellishment they usually added ;

* These words are gravely added to some singular par-
ticulars respecting the life of Adam, related in a MS. of the
sixteenth century preserved in the Heralds' College.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA, 3 I

and how, even in the positions and gestures
of figures, they strove to give the idea rather
of their having seen the fact^ than imagined
a picturesque treatment of it. Often, in
examining early art, we mistake conscien-
tiousness for servility, and attribute to the
absence of invention what was indeed the
result of the earnestness of faith.

Nor, in a merely artificial point of view, is
it less important to note, that the greatest
advance in power was made when painters
had few subjects to treat. The day has
perhaps come when genius should be shown
in the discovery of perpetually various interest
amidst the incidents of actual life ; and the
absence of inventive capacity is very assuredly
proved by the narrow selection of subjects
which commonly appear on the walls of our
exhibitions. But yet it is to be always
remembered, that more originality may be
shown in giving interest to a well - known
subject than in discovering a new one ; that
the greatest poets whom the world has seen
have been contented to retouch and exalt the
creations of their predecessors ; and that the
painters of the middle ages reached their

32 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

utmost power by unweariedly treading a
narrow circle of sacred subjects.

1 6. Nothing is indeed more notable in the
history of art than the exact balance of its
point of excellence, in all things, midway
between servitude and license. Thus, in
choice and treatment of subject, it became
paralysed among the Byzantines, by being
mercilessly confined to a given series of
scenes, and to a given mode of representing
them. Giotto gave it partial liberty and
incipient life ; by the artists who succeeded
him the range of its scenery was continually
extended, and the severity of its style slowly
softened to perfection. But the range was
still, in some degree, limited by the necessity
of its continual subordination to religious
purposes ; and the style, though softened, was
still chaste, and though tender, self-restrained.
At last came the period of license : the artist
chose his subjects from the lowest scenes of
human life, and let loose his passions in their
portraiture. And the kingdom of art passed
away.

As if to direct us to the observation of this
great law, there is a curious visible type of it

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 33

in the progress of ornamentation in manu-
scripts, corresponding with the various changes
in the higher branch of art. In the course of
the 1 2th and early 13th centuries, the orna-
mentation, though often full of high feeling
and fantasy, is sternly enclosed within limit-
ing border-lines ; — at first, severe squares,
oblongs, or triangles. As the grace of the
ornamentation advances, these border-lines
are softened and broken into various curves,
and the inner design begins here and there to
overpass them. Gradually this emergence
becomes more constant, and the lines which
thus escape throw themselves into curvatures
expressive of the most exquisite concurrence
of freedom with self-restraint. At length the
restraint vanishes, the freedom changes conse-
quently into license, and the page is covered
with exuberant, irregular, and foolish ex-
travagances of leafage and line.

17. It only remains to be noticed, that the
circumstances of the time at which Giotto
appeared were peculiarly favourable to the
development of genius; owing partly to the
simplicity of the methods of practice, and
partly to the naivet^ with which art was

34 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

commonly regarded. Giotto, like-all the great
painters of the period, was merely a travelling
decorator of walls, at so much a day ; having
at Florence a bottega, or workshop, for the
production and sale of small tempera pictures.
There were no such things as " studios," in
those days. An artist's " studies " were over
by the time he was eighteen ; after that he
was a lavoratore^ " labourer," a man who knew
his business, and produced certain works of
known value for a known price ; being troubled
with no philosophical abstractions, shutting
himself up in no wise for the reception of
inspirations ; receiving, indeed, a good man}^
as a matter of course, — ^just as he received the
sunbeams which came in at his window, the
light which he worked by ; — in either case,
without mouthing about it, or much concerning
himself as to the nature of it. Not troubled
by critics either; satisfied that his work was
well done, and that people would find it out to
be well done ; but not vain of it, nor more
profoundly vexed at its being found fault with,
than a good saddler would be by some one's
saying his last saddle was uneasy in the seat.
Not, on the whole, much molested by critics,

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 3 5

but generally understood by the men of sense,
his neighbours and friends, and permitted to
have his own way with the walls he had to
paint, as being, on the whole, an authority
about walls ; receiving at the same time a
good deal of daily encouragement and comfort
in the simple admiration of the populace, and
in the general sense of having done good, and
painted what no man could look upon without
being the better for it.

18. Thus he went, a serene labourer,
throughout the length and breadth of Italy.
For the first ten years of his life, a shepherd ;
then a student, perhaps for five or six ; then
alread}^ in Florence, setting himself to his
life's task ; and called as a master to Rome
when he was only twent3^ There he painted
the principal chapel of St. Peter's, and worked
in mosaic also ; no handicrafts, that had
colour or form for their objects, seeming un-
known to him. Then returning to Florence,
he painted Dante, about the year 1300,* the

* Lord Lindsay's evidence on this point {Chn'sfiaii Art,
vol. ii. p. 174) seems quite conclusive. It is impossible to
overrate the value of the work of Giotto in the Bargello,
both for its own intrinsic beauty, and as being executed in

36 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

35th year of Dante's life, the 24th of his own ;
and designed the facade of the Duomo, on the
death of its former architect, Arnolfo. Some
six years afterwards he went to Padua, there
painting the chapel which is the subject of
our present study, and many other churches.
Thence south again, to Assisi, where he
painted half the walls and vaults of the great
convent that stretches itself along the slopes
of the Perugian hills, and various other minor
works on his way there and back to Florence.
Staying in his native city but a little while, he
engaged himself in other tasks at Ferrara,
Verona, and Ravenna, and at last at Avignon,
where he became acquainted with Petrarch —
working there for some three years, from
1324 to 1327;* and then passed rapidly
through Florence and Orvieto on his wa}^
to Naples, where "he received the kindest
*' welcome from the good king Robert. The
" king, ever partial to men of mind and genius,
" took especial delight in Giotto's society, and
"used frequently to visit him while working

this year, which is not only that in which the Divma
Commedia opens, but, as I think, the cuh-ninating period
in the history of the art of the middle ages.
* Christian Art, vol. ii. p. 242.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 3/

" in the Castelio dell' Uovo, taking pleasure in
" watching his pencil and listening to his
"discourse; 'and Giotto,' says Vasari, 'who
" had ever his repartee and bon-mot ready,
"held him there, fascinated at once with the
" magic of his pencil and pleasantry of his
"tongue.' We are not told the length of his
"sojourn at Naples, but it must have been
'•'for a considerable period, judging from the
"quantity of works he executed there. He
"had certainly returned to Florence in 1332."
There he was immediately appointed " chief
master " of the works of the Duomo, then in
progress, "with a yearly salar}^ of one
"hundred gold florins, and the privilege of
"citizenship." He designed the Campanile,
in a more perfect form than that which now
exists; for his intended spire, 150 feet in
height, never was erected. He, however,
modelled the bas-reliefs for the base of the
building, and sculptured two of them with his
own hand. It was afterwards completed, with
the exception of the spire, according to his
design ; but he only saw its foundations laid,
and its first marble story rise. He died at
Florence, on tHe 8th of January, 1337, full of

38 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

honour ; happy, perhaps, in departhig at the
zenith of his strength, when his eye had not
become dim, nor his natural force abated. He
was buried in the cathedral, at the angle nearest
his campanile ; and thus the tower, which is
the chief grace of liis native city, may be
regarded as his own sepulchral monument.

19. I may refer the reader to the close of
Lord Lindsay's letter on Giotto,* from whick
I have drawn most of the particulars above
stated, for a ver}' beautiful sketch of his
character and his art. Of the real rank of
that art, in the abstract, I do not feel myself
capable of judging accurately, not having seen
his finest works (at Assisi and Naples), nor
carefully studied even those at Florence. But
I may be permitted to point out one or two
peculiar characteristics in it which have always
struck me forcibl}'.

In the first place, Giotto never finished
highly. He was not, indeed, a loose or
sketchy painter, but he was by no means a
delicate one. His lines, as the story of the
circle would lead us to expect, are always
firm, but they are never fine. Even in his

* Christian Art, p. 260.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 39

smallest tempera pictures the touch is bold
and somewhat heavy : in his fresco work the
handling is much broader than that of con-
temporary painters, corresponding somewhat
to the character of many of the figures, repre-
senting plain, masculine kind of people, and
never reaching anything like the ideal reline-
ment of the conceptions even of Benozzo Goz-
zoli, far less of Angelico or Francia. For this
reason, the character of his painting is better
expressed by bold wood-engravings than in
general it is likely to be b}' any other means.

Again, he was a very noble colourist ; and
in his peculiar feeling for breadtli of hue re-
sembled Titian more than any other of the
Florentine school. That is to say, had he
been born two centuries later, when the art
of painting was fully known, I believe he
would have treated his subjects much more
like Titian than like Raphael ; in fact, the
frescoes of Titian in the chapel beside the
church of St. Antonio at Padua, are, in all
technical qualities, and in many of their con-
ceptions, almost exactly what I believe Giotto
would have done, had he lived in Titian's
time. As it was, he of course never attained

40 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

either richness or truth of colour ; but in
serene brilhancy he is not easily rivalled ;
invariably massing his hues in large fields,
limiting them firmly, and then filling them
with subtle gradation. He had the Venetian
fondness for bars and stripes, not unfrequently
casting barred colours obliquely across the
draperies of an upright figure, from side to
side (as very notably in the dress of one of
the musicians who are playing to the dancing
of Herodias' daughter, in one of his frescoes
at Santa Croce) ; and this predilection was
mingled with the truly mediaeval love of
quartering* The figure of the Madonna in
the small tempera pictures in the Academy
at Florence is always completely divided into
two narrow segments by her dark-blue robe.

20. And this is always to be remembered
in looking at any engravings from the works
of Giotto ; for the injury they sustain in being
deprived of their colour is far greater than in
the case of later designers. All works pro-
duced in the 14th century agree in being more

* I use this heraldic word in an inaccurate sense, knowing
no other that will express what I mean, — the division of the
picture into quaint segments of alternating colour, more
marked than any of the figure outlines.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 4 I

or less decorative ; they were intended in
most instances to be subservient to architec-
tural effect, and were executed in the manner
best calculated to produce a strii^ing impres-
sion when they were seen in a mass. The
painted wall and the painted window were
part and parcel of one magnificent whole ;
and it is as unjust to the work of Giotto, or
of any contemporary artist, to take out a single
feature from the series, and represent it in
black and white on a separate page, as it
would be to take out a compartment of a noble
coloured window, and engrave it in the same
manner. What is at once refined and effec-
tive, if seen at the intended distance in unison
with the rest of the work, becomes coarse and
insipid when seen isolated and near ; and the
more skilfully the design is ai ranged, so as to
give full value to the colours which are intro-
duced in it, the more blank and cold will it
become when it is deprived of them.

In our modern art we have indeed lost sight
of one great principle which regulated that
of the middle ages, namely, that chiaroscuro
and colour are incompatible in their highest
degrees. Wherever chiaroscuro enters, colour

42 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

must lose some of its brillianc3\ There is no
shade in a rainbow, nor in an opal, nor in a
piece of mother-of-pearl, nor in a well-designed
painted window ; only various hues of perfect
colour. The best pictures, by subduing their
colour and conventionalising their chiaroscuro,
reconcile both in their diminished degrees ;
but a perfect light and shade cannot be given
without considerable loss of liveliness in
colour. Hence the supposed inferiority of
Tintoret to Titian. Tintoret is, in reality, the
greater colourist of the two ; but he could not
bear to falsify his light and shadow enough
to set off his colour. Titian nearly strikes the
exact mean between the painted glass of the
13th century and Rembrandt; while Giotto
closely approaches the system of painted glass,
and hence his compositions lose grievously by
being translated into black and white.

21. But even his chiaroscuro, however
subdued, is not without a peculiar charm ;
and the accompanying engravings * possess a
marked superiority over all that have hitherto

* I.e., those accompanying the original edition of the book.
See as to these and the present iUustrations the editorial
note at the beginning of this volume. — Ei). 1899.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 43

been made from the works of this painter,
in rendering this chiaroscuro, as far as pos-
sible, together with the effect of the local
colours. The true appreciation of art has
been retarded for many years by the habit
of trusting to outlines as a sufficient ex-
pression of the sentiment of compositions ;
whereas in all truly great designs, of what-
ever age, it is never the outline, but the
disposition of the masses, whether of shade
or colour, on which the real power of the
work depends. For instance, in Plate III.
(The Angel appears to Anna), the interest
of the composition depends entirely upon
the broad shadows which fill the spaces of
the chamber, and of the external passage in
which the attendant is sitting. This shade
explains the whole scene in a moment ; gives
prominence to the curtain and coverlid of
the homely bed, and the rude chest and
trestles which form the poor furniture of
the house ; and conducts the eye easily and
instantly to the three figures, which, had
the scene been expressed in outline only, we
should have had to trace out with some
care and difficulty among the pillars of the

44 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

loffffia and folds of the curtains. So also the
relief of the faces in light against the dark
sky is of peculiar value in the compositions
No. X. and No. XII.

22. The drazving of Giotto is, of course,
exceedingly fault3\ His knowledge of the
human figure is deficient ; and this, the
necessary drawback in all works of the period,
occasions an extreme difficult}' in rendering
them faithfully in an engraving. For wher-
ever there is good and legitimate drawing,
the ordinary education of a modern draughts-
man enables him to copy it with tolerable
accuracy ; but when once the true forms of
nature are departed from, it is by no means
easy to express exactly the error, and }io
more than the error, of his original. In
most cases modern copyists try to modify
or hide the weaknesses of the old art, — by
which procedure they very often wholly lose
its spirit, and only half redeem its defects ;
the results being, of course, at once false as
representations, and intrinsically valueless.
And just as it requires great courage and
skill in an interpreter to speak out honestly
all the rough and rude words of the first

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 45

speaker, and to translate deliberate!}^ and
resolutel}'-, in the face of attentive men, the
expressions of his weakness or impatience ;
so it requires at once the utmost courage
and skill in a copyist to trace faithfully the
failures of an imperfect master, in the front
of modern criticism, and against the inborn
instincts of his own hand and eye. And let
him do the best he can, he will still find
that the grace and life of his original are
continually flying off like a vapour, while all
the faults he has so diligently copied sit
rigidly staring him in the face, — a terrible
caput mortuuDi. It is very necessary that
this should be well understood by the
members of the Arundel Society, when they
hear their engravings "severely criticised. It
is easy to produce an agreeable engraving
by graceful infidelities; but the entire en-
deavour of the draughtsmen employed by
this society has been to obtain accurately
the character of the original : and he who
never proposes to himself to rise above the
work he is copying, must most assuredly
often fall beneath it. Such fall is the in-
herent and inevitable penalty on all absolute

46 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

copyism ; and wherever the copy is made
with sincerity, the fall must be endured with
patience. It will never be an utter or a de-
grading fall ; that is reserved for those who,
like vulgar translators, wilfully quit the hand of
their master, and have no strength of their own.
23. Lastly. It is especially to be noticed tliat
these works of Giotto, in common with all
others of the period, are independent of all
the inferior sources of pictorial interest. They
never show the slightest attempt at imitative
realisation : they are simple suggestions of
ideas, claiming no regard except for the in-
herent value of the thoughts. There is no
filling of the landscape with variety of scenery,
architecture, or incident, as in the works of
Benozzo Gozzoli or ' Perugino ; no wealth
of jewellery and gold spent on the dresses
of the figures, as in the delicate labours of
Angelico or Gentile da Fabriano. The back-
ground is never more than a few gloom}'
masses of rock, with a tree or two, and per-
haps a fountain ; the architecture is merel}-
what is necessary to explain the scene ; the
dresses are painted sternly on the "heroic"
principle of Sir Joshua Reynolds — that drapery

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 47

is to be " drapery, and nothing more," — there is
no silk, nor velvet, nor distinguishable material
of any kind : the whole power of the picture is
rested on the three simple essentials of painting
— pure Colour, noble Form, noble Thought.

We moderns, educated in reality far more
under the influence of the Dutch masters than
the Italian, and taught to look for realisation
in all things, have been in the habit of casting
scorn on these early Italian works, as if their
simplicity were the result of ignorance merely.
When we know a little more of art in general,
we shall begin to suspect that a man of Giotto's
power of mind did not altogether suppose his
clusters of formal trees, or diminutive masses
of architecture, to be perfect representations
of the woods of Judea, or of the streets of
Jerusalem : we shall begin to understand that
there is a symbolical art which addresses the
imagination, as well as a realist art which
supersedes it ; and that the powers of con-
templation and conception which could be
satisfied or excited by these simple types of
natural things, were infinitely more majestic
than those which are so dependent on the
completeness of what is presented to them

48 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA,

as to be paralysed by an error in perspective,
or stifled by the absence of atmosphere.

24. Nor is the healthy simpHcity of the
period less marked in the selection than in
the treatment of subjects. It has in these
days become necessary for the painter who
desires popularit}^ to accumulate on his canvas
whatever is startling in aspect or emotion,
and to drain, even to exhaustion, the vulgar
sources of the pathetic. Modern sentiment,
at once feverish and feeble, remains un-
awakened except by the violences of gaiety
or gloom ; and the e3"e refuses to pause,
except when it is tempted b}' the luxury of
beauty, or fascinated by the excitement of
terror. It ought not, therefore, to be with-
out a respectful admiration that we find
the masters of the 14th century dwelling on
moments of the most subdued and tender
feeling, and leaving the spectator to trace the
under-currents of thought which link them
with future events of mightier interest, and
fill witli a prophetic power and mystery scenes
in themselves so simple as the meeting of a
master with his herdsmen among the hills, or
the return of a betrothed virgin to her house.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 49

It is, however, to be remembered that this
quietness in character of subject was much
more possible to an early painter, owing to
the connection in which his works were to be
seen. A modern picture, isolated and port-
able, must rest all its claims to attention on
its own actual subject : but the pictures of the
early masters were nearly always parts of a
consecutive and stable series, in which many
were subdued, like the connecting passages of
a prolonged poem, in order to enhance the
value or meaning of others. The arrange-
ment of the subjects in the Arena Chapel is
in this respect peculiarly skilful ; and to that
arrangement we must now direct our attention.

25. It was before noticed that the chapel
was built between 1300 and 1306. The
architecture of Italy in the beginning of
the 14th century is always pure, and often
severe ; but this chapel is remarkable, even
among the severest forms, for the absence of
decoration. Its plan, seen in the marginal
figure, is a pure oblong, with a narrow ad-
vanced tribune, terminating in a tri-lateral
apse. Selvatico quotes from the German writer
Stieglitz some curious observations on the

D

so

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

apparent derivation of its proportions, in com-
mon with those of other
m buildings of tlie time,
from the number of
sides of its apse. With-
out entering into these
particulars, it may be
noted that the apse is
just one-half the width
of the body of the chapel,
and that the length from
the extremity of the
tribune to the west end
is just seven times the
width of the apse. The,
whole of the body of
the chapel was painted
by Giotto ; the walls
and roof being entirely
covered either with his
figure-designs, or with
various subordinate
decorations connecting
and enclosing them.
The woodcut opposite represents the ar-
rangement of the frescoes on the sides,

*.

«

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 53

extremities, and roof of the chapel. The
spectator is supposed to be looking from the
western entrance towards the tribune, having
on his right the south side, which is pierced
by six tall windows, and on which the frescoes
are therefore reduced in number. The north
side is pierced by no windows, and on it
therefore the frescoes are continuous, lighted
from the south windows. The several spaces
numbered i to 38 are occupied by a continu-
ous series of subjects, representing the life of
the Virgin and of Christ ; the narrow panels
below, marked a^ b, c, &c., are filled by figures
of the cardinal virtues and their opponent
vices : on the lunette above the tribune is
painted a Christ in glory, and at the western
extremity, the Last Judgment.* Thus the

* Be3'ond a small vignette of a portion of the Last Jiulg-
ment on the title-page of the volume of engravings, the set
of woodcuts published by the Arundel .Society in 1854-60
contained no reproduction of the Christ in Glory, the Last
Judgment, and the fourteen Virtues and Vices. In the
present volume all are reproduced, the Christ in Glory as a
frontispiece, the Last Judgment and the Virtues and Vices in
the Appendix at the close of the liook. To each illustration
are added a few explanatory notes, giving, as far as possible,
anything that occurs about the designs elsewhere in Mr.
Ruskin's writings. Of the Christ in Glory there is no other
mention, and Lord Lindsay merely says of it, " Our Saviour

54 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

walls of the chapel are covered with a con-
tinuous meditative poem on the myster}- of the
Incarnation, the acts of Redemption, the vices
and virtues of mankind as proceeding from
their scorn or acceptance of tliat Redemption,
and their final judgment.

The first twelve pictures of the series are
exclusively devoted to the apocryphal history
of the birth and life of the Virgin. This the
Protestant spectator will observe, perhaps, with
little favour, more especially as only two com-
partments are given to the ministry of Christ,
between his Baptism and Entry into Jeru-
salem. Due weight is, however, to be allowed
to Lord Lindsay's remark, that the legendary
history of the Virgin was of peculiar import-
ance in this chapel, as especially dedicated
to her service ; and I think also that Giotto
desired to unite the series of compositions

"in glory, seated on his throne, and attended by angels to
" the right and left." The list of the frescoes supplied at the
chapel itself describes it as the "Almighty adored by the
Angels." Unfortunately the condition of the fiesco renders
it impossible to say which person of the Trinity is intended
by Giotto. The bar across the lower part of the illustration
is not, of course, part of the design, but a support of part of
the chapel, which could not be excluded from the photo-
graph of the fresco. — Ep. 1899.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 5 5

in one continuous action, feeling that to have
enlarged on the separate miracles of Christ's
ministry would have interrupted the onward
course of thought. As it is, the mind is
led from the first humiliation of Joachim to
the Ascension of Christ in one unbroken and
progressive chain of scenes ; the ministry of
Christ being completely typified by his first
and last conspicuous miracle : while the very
unimportance of some of the subjects, as for
instance that of the Watching the Rods, is
useful in directing the spectator rather to
pursue the course of the narrative, than to
pause in satisfied meditation upon any single
incident. And it can hardly be doubted that
Giotto had also a peculiar pleasure in dwelling
on the circumstances of the shepherd life of
the father of the Virgin, owing to its resem-
blance to that of his own early years.

26. The incidents represented in these first
twelve paintings are recorded in the two
apocryphal gospels known as the " Protevan-
gelion" and "Gospel of St. Mary."* But

* It has always appeared strange to me, that ecclesiastical
history should possess no more authentic records of the life of
the Virgin, before the period at which the narrative of St.
Luke commences, than these apocryphal gospels, which are as

56 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

on comparing the statements in these writings
(which, by the by, are in nowise consistent
with each other) with the paintings in the
Arena Chapel, it appeared to me that Giotto
must occasionally have followed some more
detailed traditions than are furnished by either
of them ; seeing that of one or two subjects the
apocryphal gospels gave no distinct or sufficient
explanation. Fortunately, however, in the
course of some other researches, I met with a
manuscript in the British Museum (Harl.
3571), containing a complete "History of the
most Holy Family," written in Northern
Italian of about the middle of the 14th cen-
tury ; and appearing to be one of the forms
of the legend which Giotto has occasionally
followed in preference to the statements of the

wretched in style as untrustworthy in matter ; and are evi-
dently nothing more than a collection, in rude imitation of
the style of the Evangelists, of such floating traditions as
became current among the weak Christians of the earlier
ages, when their inquiries respecting the history of Mary
were met by the obscurity under which the Divine will had
veiled her humble person and character. There must always
be something painful, to those who are familiar with the
Scriptures, in reading these feeble and foolish mockeries of
the manner of the inspired writers ; but it will lie proper,
nevertheless, to give the exact words in which the scenes
represented by Giotto were recorded to him.

CIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 57

Protevangelion. I have therefore, in illustra-
tion of the paintings, given, when it seemed
useful, some portions of this manuscript ; and
these, with one or two verses of the commonl}'
received accounts, will be found generally
enough to interpret sufficiently the meaning of
the painter.

The following complete list of the subjects
will at once enable the reader to refer any of
them to its place in the series, and on the walls
of the building ; and I have only now to remind
him in conclusion, that within those walls the
greatest painter and greatest poet of mediaeval
Italy held happy companionship during the
time when the frescoes were executed. " It is
" not difficult," says the writer already so often
quoted, Lord Lindsay, " gazing on these silent
" but eloquent walls, to repeople them with the
"group once, as we know, five hundred years
''ago, assembled within them: Giotto intent
" upon his work, his wife Ciuta admiring his
■' progress ; and Dante, with abstracted eye,
"alternately conversing witli his friend, and
"watching the gambols of the children playing
"on the grass before the door."

SERIES OE SUBJECTS.*

1. The Rejection of Joachim's Offering.

2. Joachim retires to the Sheepfold.

3. The Angel appears to Anna.

4. The Sacrifice of Joachim.

5. The Vision of Joachim.

6. The Meeting at the Golden Gate.

7. The Birth of the Virgin.

8. The Presentation of the Virgin.

9. The Rods are brought to the High Priest.

10. The Watching of the Rods.

11. The Betrothal of the Virgin.
The Virgin returns to her House.

12

't>"

* It may be noticed that in the following pages the titles
of a few of the subjects are slightly varied from this list.
Thus No. 5 is headed, "The Angel (Raphael) appears to
Joachim" ; Nos. 13 and 14 (which are in reality one picture)
are given as "The Annunciation (a) The Angel Gabriel,
(/>) The Virgin Mary ; and No. 16 is called " The Nativity."
See also Nos. 10 and 12. So again in the lettering under
the Arundel Society's illustration, No. 11 was entitled "The
Espousal of the Virgin."— Ed. 1S99.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 59

13. I The Angel Gabriel.

14. j The Virgin Annunciate.

15. The Salutation.

16. The Angel appearing to the Shep-

herds.

17. The Wise Men's Oftering.

18. The Presentation in the Temple.

19. The Flight into Egypt.

20. The Massacre of the Innocents.

21. The Young Christ in the Temple.

22. The Baptism of Christ.

23. The Marriage in Cana.

24. The Raising of Lazarus.

25. The Entry into Jerusalem.

26. The Expulsion from the Temple.

27. The Hiring of Judas.

28. The Last Supper.

29. The Washing of the Feet.

30. The Kiss of Judas.

31. Christ before Caiaphas.

32. The Scourging of Christ.

33. Christ bearing His Cross.

34. The Crucifixion.

35. The Entombment.

6o

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

^6. The Resurrection.

37. The Ascension.

38. The Descent of the Holy Spirit.

To these may now be added
Christ in Glory.
The Last Judgment.
The Virtues and Vices.

a Prudence

facins;

;; Folly.

l> Fortitude

• 1

1)1 Inconstancy

i- Temperance

))

/ Anger.

d Justice .

!)

k Injustice.

e Faith

: )

/ Infidelity.

/ Charity .

)!

/ Envy.

£- Hope

!I

h Despair.

I.

THE REJECTION OF JOACHIM'S
OFFERING.

"At that time, there was a man of perfect
" holiness, named Joachim, of the tribe of
" Juda, and of the city of Jerusalem. And
" this Joachim had in contempt the riches and
" honours of the world ; and for greater
" despite to them, he kept his flocks, with
" his shepherds.

" * * * And he, being so holy and
" just, divided the fruits which he received
" from his flocks into three parts : a third
" part — wool, and lambs, and such like — he
" gave to God, that is to say, to those who
" served God, and who ministered in the
" temple of God ; another third part he gave
'* to widows, orphans, and pilgrims ; the
" remaining third he kept for himself and
" his family. And he persevering in this,
" God so multiplied and increased his goods

6i

62 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

" that there was no man like him in the land
" of Israel. * * * And having come
" to the age of twenty years, he took to
" wife Anna, the daughter of Ysaya, of his
" own tribe, and of the lineage of David.

" This precious St. Anna had always per-
" severed in the service of God with great
" wisdom and sincerity ; * * * and
" having received Joachim for her husband,
" was subject to him, and gave him honour
" and reverence, living in the fear of God.
" And Joachim having lived with his wife
" Anna for twenty years, yet having no child,
" and there being a great solemnity in Jeru-
" salem, all the men of the city went to offer
" in the temple of God, which Solomon had
" built ; and Joachim entering the temple with
" (incense ?) and other gifts to offer on the
" altar, and Joachim having made his offering,
" the minister of the temple, whose name was
" Issachar, threw Joachim's offering from off
" the altar, and drove Joachim out of the
" temple, sa3'ing, ' Thou, Joachim, art not
" worthy to enter into the temple, seeing that
" God has not added His blessing to you, as
" in your life you have had no seed.' Thus

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 63

" Joachim received a great insult in the sight
" of all the people; and he being all ashamed,
" returned to his house, weeping and lament-
" ing most bitterly." (MS. Harl.)

The Gospel of St. Mary differs from this
MS. in its statement of the respective cities of
Joachim and Anna, saying that the family of
the Virgin's father "was of Galilee and of the
" city of Nazareth, the family of her mother
" was of Bethlehem." It is less interesting
in details; but gives a better, or at least more
graceful, account of Joachim's repulse, saying
that Issachar " despised Joachim and his
offerings, and asked him why he, who had
no children, would presume to appear
among those who had : adding, that his
offerings could never be acceptable to God,
since he had been judged by Him unworthy
to have children ; the Scripture having said,
Cursed is every one who shall not beget a
male in Israel."
Giotto seems to have followed this latter
account, as the figure of the high priest is far
from being either ignoble or ungentle.

The temple is represented by the two most
important portions of a Byzantine church ;

64 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

namely, the ciborium which covered the altar,
and the pulpit or reading-desk ; with the low
screen in front of the altar enclosing the part
of the church called the " cancelluni." Lord
Lindsay speaks of the priest within this
enclosure as " confessing a young man who
kneels at his feet." It seems to me, rather,
that he is meant to be accepting the offering
of another worshipper, so as to mark the
rejection of Joachim more distinctly.*

* The offering of Joachim, a small lamb which he holds
in his hands, is not very well showji in the illustration. —
Ed. 1899.

I'dKS tir Crampion^ Sr.

I

THE REJECTION OF JOACHIM'S OFFERING

II.

JOACHIM RETIRES TO THE
SHEEPFOLD.

" Then Joachim, in the following night,
" resolved to separate himself from companion-
" ship ; to go to the desert places among the
" mountains, with his flocks ; and to inhabit
" those mountains, in order not to hear such
" insults. And immediately Joachim rose
" from his bed, and called about him all his
" servants and shepherds, and caused to be
" gathered together all his flocks, and goats,
" and horses, and oxen, and what other beasts
" he had, and went with them and with the
" shepherds into the hills ; and Anna his wife
" remained at home disconsolate, and mourn-
" ing for her husband, who had departed from
" her in such sorrow." (MS. Harl.)

" But upon inquiry, he found that all the
" righteous had raised up seed in Israel.
'■' Then he called to mind the patriarch

65

E

6^ GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

" Abraham, — how that God in the end of his
" life had given him his son Isaac : upon
" which he was exceedingly distressed, and
" would not be seen by his wife ; but retired
" into the wilderness and fixed his tent there,
" and fasted forty days and forty nights,
" saying to himself, ' I will not go down to
*' eat or drink till the Lord my God shall
" look down upon me ; but prayer shall be
" my meat and drink.' " (Protevangelion,
chap, i.)

Giotto seems here also to have followed
the ordinary tradition, as he has represented
Joachim retiring unattended, — but met by
two of his shepherds, who are speaking to
each other, uncertain what to do or how to
receive their master. The dog hastens to
meet him with jo}^ The figure of Joachim
is singularl}' beautiful in its pensiveness and
slow motion ; and the ignobleness of the
herdsmen's figures is curioush' marked in
opposition to the dignity of their master.

P'llUS

II
JOACHIM ri:tires to the sheepfold

III.

THE ANGEL APPEARS TO ANNA.

" Afterwards the angel appeared to Anna
his wife, saying, * Fear not, neither think
that which you see is a spirit. For I
am that angel who hath offered up your
prayers and alms before God, and am
now sent to tell you that a daughter will
be born unto you. * * * Arise, there-
fore, and go up to Jerusalem ; and when
you shall come to that which is called the
Golden Gate (because it is gilt with gold),
as a sign of what I have told you, you
shall meet your husband, for whose safety
you have been so much concerned.' " (Gospel
of St. Mary, chap. iii. 1-7.)

The accounts in the Protevangelion and
in the Harleian MS. are much expanded :
relating how Anna feared her husband was
dead, he having been absent from her five

months; and how Judith, her maid, taunted

67

68 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

her with her childlessness ; and how, going
then into her garden, she saw a sparrow's
nest, full of young, upon a laurel-tree, and
mourning within herself, said, " ' I am not
" comparable to the very beasts of the earth,
" for even they are fruitful before thee,
" O Lord. * * * I am not compar-
" able to the very earth, for the earth pro-
" duces its fruits to praise thee.' Then the
" angel of the Lord stood by her," &c.

Both the Protevangelion and Harleian MS.
agree in placing the vision in the garden ;
the latter adding, that she fled " into her
" chamber in great fear, and fell upon her
" bed, and lay as in a trance all that day
" and all that night, but did not tell the
" vision to her maid, because of her bitter
" answering." Giotto has deviated from
both accounts in making the vision appear
to Anna in her chamber, while the maid,
evidently being considered an important per-
sonage, is at work in the passage. Apart
from all reference to the legends, there is
something peculiarl}' beautiful in the sim-
plicity of Giotto's conception, and in the way
in which he has shown the angel entering

I'liits 0" < raDipfoii, Sc

III

THE ANGEL APPEARS TO ANNA

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 69

at the window, without the least endeavour
to impress our imag'nation by darkness, or
light, or clouds, or any other accessory ; as
though believing that angels might appear
anywhere, and any day, and to all men, as
a matter of course, if we would ask them,
or were fit company for them.

See for further mention of this fresco, ante, p. 43, § 21,
of the Introduction. — Ed. 1S99.

IV.

THE SACRIFICE OF JOACHIM.

The account of this sacrifice is only given
clearly in the Harleian MS. ; but even this
differs from Giotto's series in the order of
the visions, as the subject of the next plate
is recorded first in this MS., under the
curious heading, " Disse Sancto Theofilo
" como I'angelo de Dio aperse a Joachim lo
" qual li anuntia la nativita della vergene
"Maria;" while the record of this vision
and sacrifice is headed, " Como I'angelo de
" Dio aparse ancJioi'a a Joachim." It then
proceeds thus: "At this very moment of
" the day " (when the angel appeared to
Anna), " there appeared a most beautiful
" youth {unno belitissimo zovcne) among the
" mountains there, where Joachim was, and
" said to Joachim, ' Wherefore dost thou
" not return to thy wife ? ' And Joachim

" answered, ' These twenty years God has

70

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. / I

given me no fruit of her, wherefore I was
chased from the temple with infinite shame.

* * * And, as long as I live, I will
give alms of my flocks to widows and
pilgrims.' * * * And these words
being finished, the youth answered, * I am
the angel of God who appeared to thee
the other time for a sign ; and appeared
to thy wife Anna, who always abides in
prayer, weeping day and night ; and I
have consoled her; wherefore I command
thee to observe the commandments of
God, and his will, which I tell you truly,
that of thee shall be born a daughter, and
that thou shalt offer her to the temple of
God, and the Holy Spirit shall rest upon
her, and her blessedness shall be above
the blessedness of all virgins, and her holi-
ness so great that human nature will not
be able to comprehend it.' * * * * *

* This passage in the old Italian of the MS. may interest
some readers : " E complice queste parole lo zovene respoxe,
" dignando, lo son I'angelo de Die, lo quale si te aparse
" I'altra fiada, in segno, e aparse a toa mulier Anna che
" sempre sta in oration plauzando di e note, e si lo con-
" solada ; unde io te comando che tu debie observare li
" comandimenti de Dio, ela soua volunta che io te dice
" veramente, che de la toa somenza insera una fioils, e

J 2 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

" Then Joachim fell upon the earth, saying,
" ' My lord, I pray thee to pray God for me,
" and to enter into this my tabernacle, and
" bless me, thy servant.' The angel answered,
" ' We are all the servants of God : and know
" that my eating would be invisible, and my
" drinking could not be seen by all the men
" in the world ; but of all that thou wouldest
" give to me, do thou make sacrifice to God,'
" Then Joachim took a lamb without spot
" or blemish * * » * • ^nd when he
•* had made sacrifice of it, the angel of the
" Lord disappeared and ascended into heaven ;
" and Joachim fell upon the earth in great
" fear, and lay from the sixth hour until the
" evening."

This is evidently nothing more than a very
vapid imitation of the scriptural narrative of
the appearances of angels to Abraham and
Manoah. But Giotto has put life into it ;
and I am aware of no other composition in
which so much interest and awe has been
given to the literal " burnt sacrifice." In all

*' questa offrila al templo de Dio, e lo Spirito santo reposera
" in ley, ela soa beatitudine sera sovera tute le altre
' ' verzene, ela soua santita sera si grande die natura humana
" non la pora comprendere."

Vuiis &* Crufiifion, sc.

IV

THE SACRIFICE OF JOACHIM

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. yi^

Other representations of sucli offerings which
I remember, the interest is concentrated in
the slaying of the victim. But Giotto has
fastened on the burning of it ; showing the
white skeleton left on the altar, and the fire
still hurtling up round it, typical of the Divine
wrath, which is "as a consuming fire;" and
thus rendering the sacrifice a more clear and
fearful type not merely of the outward wounds
and death of Christ, but of his soul-suflfering.
" AH my bones are out of joint : my heart
" is like wax ; it is melted in the midst of
" my bowels." * "*

The hand of the Deity is seen in the
heavens — the sign of the Divine Presence.f

* (Note l)y a friend) :— " To me the most striking part of
" it is, that the skeleton is entire (' a bone of him shall not
" be broken'), and that the head stands up still looking to
" the skies : is it too fanciful to see a meaning in this?"

t Lord Lindsay says : " The hand of God issues from
heaven, as in Byzantine art, in token of acceptance," and
adds that the sceptre in the hand of the angel Gabriel is
that usually represented in the mosaics. Attention may
also be called to the figure of which the head and wings
only are visible, rising out of the smoke of the altar.— Ed.
1899.

V.

THE ANGEL (RAPHAEL) APPEARS
TO JOACHIM.

" Now Joachim being in this pain, the Lord
God, Father of mercy, who abandons not
his servants, nor ever fails to console them
in their distresses, if they pray for his grace
and pity, had compassion on Joachim, and
heard his prayer, and sent the angel Raphael
from heaven to earth to console him, and
announce to him the nativity of the Virgin
Mar3^ Therefore the angel Raphael ap-
peared to Joachim, and comforted him with
much peace, and foretold to him the birth
of the Virgin in that glory and gladness,
saying, ' God save you, O friend of God,
O Joachim ! the Lord has sent me to declare
to you an everlasting joy, and a hope that
shall have no end.' * * * * And
having finished these words, the angel
of the Lord disappeared from him, and
ascended into the heaven." (MS. Had.)

74

l\tiis kt Craniptoii, sr

THE ANGEL (RAPHAEL) APPEARS TO JOACHIM

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 75

The passage which I have omitted is merely
one of the ordinary Romanist accounts of the
immaculate conception of the Virgin, put into
the form of prophecy. There are no sufficient
details of this part of the legend either in the
Protevangelion or Gospel of St. Mary ; but
it is quite clear that Giotto followed it, and
that he has endeavoured to mark a distinction
in character between the angels Gabriel and
Raphael * in the two subjects, — the form of
Raphael melting back into the heaven, and
being distinctly recognised as angelic, while
Gabriel appears invested with perfect humanity.
It is interesting to observe that the shepherds,
who of course are not supposed to see the
form of the Angel (his manifestation being
only granted to Joachim during his sleep),
are yet evidently under the influence of a
certain degree of awe and expectation, as
being conscious of some presence other
than they can perceive, while the animals are
unconscious altogether.

* The MS. makes the angel Raphael the only messen-
ger. Giotto clearly adopts the figure of Gabriel from the
Protevangelion.

VI.

THE MEETING AT THE
GOLDEN GATE.

" And Joachim went down with the shep-
" herds, and Anna stood by the gate, and
" saw Joachim coming with the shepherds.
" And she ran, and hanging about his neck,
" said, ' Now I know that the Lord hath
"greatly blessed me.'" (Protevangelion, iv.
8,9.)

This is one of the most celebrated of
Giotto's compositions, and deservedly so, being
full of the most solemn grace and tenderness.
The face of St. Anna, half seen, is most touch-
ing in its depth of expression ; and it is very
interesting to observe how Giotto has enhanced
its sweetness, by giving a harder and grosser
character than is usual with him to the heads
of the other two principal female figures (not
but that this cast of feature is found frequently

in the figures of somewhat earlier art), and by

76

VI

THE MEETING AT THE GOLDEN GATE

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 7/

the rough and weather-beaten countenance of
the entering shepherd. In hke manner, the
falling lines of the draperies owe a great
part of their value to the abrupt and ugly
oblongs of the horizontal masonry which
adjoins them.

VII.
THE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN.

" And Joachim said, * Now I know that the
" Lord is propitious to me, and hath taken
" away all my sins.' And he went down
" from the temple of the Lord justified, and
" went to his own house.

"And when nine months were fulfilled to
" Anna, she brought forth, and said to the
"midwife, 'What have I brought forth?'
" And she told her, a girl.

" Then Anna said, ' The Lord hath this day
" magnified my soul.' And she laid her in
" the bed." (Protevangelion, v. 4-8.) ^

The composition is very characteristic of
Giotto in two respects : first, in its natural
homeliness and simplicity (in older designs
of the same subject the little Madonna is
represented as born with a golden crown on
her head); and secondly, in the smallness of

the breast and head of the sitting figure on

78

VaKs &• Crnmfi/<nt,

VII

IHE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 79

the right, — a fault of proportion often observ-
able in Giotto's figures of children or young
girls.

For the first time, also, in this series, we
have here two successive periods of the scene
represented simultaneously, the babe being
painted twice. This practice was frequent
among the early painters, and must necessarily
become so wherever painting undertakes the
task of lengthened narrative. Much absurd
discussion has taken place respecting its pro-
priety ; the whole question being simply
whether the human mind can or cannot pass
from the contemplation of one event to that
of another, without reposing itself on an
intermediate gilt frame.

VIII.

THE PRESENTATION OF
THE VIRGIN.

" And when three years were expired, and
" the time of her weaning complete, they
•' brought the Virgin to the temple of the
'' Lord with offerings.

" And there were about the temple, accord-
" ing to the fifteen Psalms of Degrees, fifteen
" stairs to ascend.

" The parents of the blessed Virgin and
" infant Mary put her upon one of these
" stairs ; but while they were putting off
" their clothes in which they had travelled,
" in the meantime, the Virgin of the Lord in
** such a manner went up all the stairs, one
" after another, without the help of any one
" to lead her or lift her, that an}^ one Would
" have judged from hence that she was of
" perfect age." (Gospel of St, Mary, iv. i-6.)

So

I'ous &• Cramptoi, Sc.

VIII

THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 8 I

There seems nothing very miraculous in a
child's walking up stairs at three years old ;
but this incident is a favourite one among the
Roman Catholic painters of every period :
generally, however, representing the child
as older than in the legend, and dwelling
rather on the solemn feeling with which
she presents herself to the high-priest, than
on the mere fact of her being able to walk
alone. Giotto has clearly regarded the in-
cident entirely in this light ; for St. Anna
touches the child's arm as if to support her;
so that the so-called miraculous walking is
not even hinted at.

Lord Lindsay particular!}^ notices that the
Virgin is "a dwarf woman instead of a
" child ; — the delineation of childhood was
" one of the latest triumphs of art." Even
in the time of those latest triumphs, how-
ever, the same fault was committed in
another way ; and a boy of eight or ten
was commonly represented — even by Rafifaelle
himself — as a dwarf Hercules, with all the
gladiatorial muscles already visible in stunted
rotundity, Giotto probably felt he had not

82 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

power enough to give dignity to a child of
three years old, and intended the womanly
form to be rather typical of the Virgin's
advanced mind, than an actual representa-
tion of her person.

-^uiptoJi, S(

IX

THE RODS ARE BROUGHT TO THE HIGH PRIEST

IX.

THE RODS ARE BROUGHT TO THE
HIGH-PRIEST.

" Then he (the high-priest) appointed that
" all the men of the house and family of David
" who were marriageable, and not married,
" should bring their several rods to the altar.
" And out of whatsoever person's rod, after
" it was brought, a flower should bud forth,
" and on the top of it the Spirit of the Lord
" should sit in the appearance of a dove,
" he should be the man to whom the Virgin
" should be given, and be betrothed to her."
(Gospel of St. Mary, v. i6, 17.)

There has originally been very little interest
in this composition ; and the injuries which it
has suffered have rendered it impossible for
the draftsman to distinguish the true folds of
the draperies amidst the defaced and worn
colours of the fresco, so that the character of

the central figure is lost. The only points

83

84 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

requiring notice are, first, the manner in which
St. Joseph holds his rod, depressing and half-
conceaUng it,* while the other suitors present
theirs boldly ; and secondly, the graceful though
monotonous grouping of the heads of the
crowd behind him. This mode of rendering
the presence of a large multitude, showing only
the crowns of the heads in complicated per-
spective, was long practised in mosaics and
illuminations before the time of Giotto, and
always possesses a certain degree of sublimity
in its power of suggesting perfect unity of
feeling and movement among the crowd.

* In the next chapter, it is said that " Joseph drew back
his rod when every one else presented his."

I'aus ip^ Cra)npton St.

X

THE WATCHING OF THE RODS AT THE ALTAR

X.

THE WATCHING OF THE RODS AT
THE ALTAR.

" After the high-priest had received their
" rods, he went into the temple to pray.

"And when he had finished his prayer, he
" took the rods and went forth and distributed
" them ; and there was no miracle attended
" them.

"The last rod was taken by Joseph; and
" behold, a dove proceeded out of the rod,
" and flew upon the head of Joseph." (Prot-
evangelion, viii. 9-1 1.)

This is among the least graceful designs of
the series ; though the clumsiness in the con-
tours of the leading figures is indeed a fault
which often occurs in the painter's best works,
but it is here unredeemed by the rest of the
composition. The group of the suitors, how-
ever, represented as waiting at the outside of
the temple, is very beautiful in its earnestness,

8s

86 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

more especially in the passionate expression of
the figure in front. It is difficult to look long
at the picture without feeling a degree of
anxiety, and strong sympathy with the silent
watching of the suitors; and this is a sign of
no small power in the work. The head of
Joseph is seen far back on the extreme left ;
thus indicating by its position his humility, and
desire to withdraw from the trial.*

* See «///'(', p. 44 (§ 21 of the Introduction) where "the
relief of the faces in light against the dark sky " is mentioned.
The tone of the sky is, however, lost in the reproduction,
which also barely shows the Divine hand piercing the dome.
See ante, No. IV. >!o/e. — Ed. 1899.

yuus & Crarnpton^ sc.

^*^' Km-tsm^^'

XI

THE BETROTHAL OF THE VIRGIN

XI.

THE BETROTHAL OF THE VIRGIN.

There is no distinct notice of this event in
the apocryphal Gospel : the traditional repre-
sentation of it is nearly always more or less
similar. Lord Lindsay's account of the com-
position before us is as follows : —

" The high-priest, standing in front of the
" altar, joins their hands ; behind the Virgin
" stand her bridesmaids ; behind St. Joseph
" the unsuccessful suitors, one of whom steps
" forward to strike him, and another breaks
" his rod on his knee. Joseph bears his own
" rod, on the flower of which the Holy Spirit
" rests in the semblance of a dove."

The development of this subject by Perugino

(for Raffaelle's picture in the Brera is little

more than a modified copy of Perugino's, now

at Caen,) is well known ; but notwithstanding

all its beauty, there is not, I think, anything

in the action of the disappointed suitors so

87

88 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

perfectly true or touching as that of the
youth breaking his rod in this composition
of Giotto's ; nor is there among any of the
figures the expression of solemn earnestness
and intentness on the event which is marked
among the attendants here, and in the
countenances of the officiating priests.

XII.

THE VIRGIN MARY RETURNS TO
HER HOUSE.

"Accordingly, the usual ceremonies of
" betrothing being over, he (Joseph) returned
" to his own city of Bethlehem to set his
" house in order, and to make the needful
" provisions for the marriage. But the Virgin
" of the Lord, Mary, with seven other virgins
" of the same age, who had been weaned at
" the same time, and who had been appointed
" to attend her by the priest, returned to her
" parents' house in Galilee." (Gospel of St.
Mary, vi. 6, 7.)

Of all the compositions in the Arena Chapel
I think this the most characteristic of the
noble time in which it was done. It is not
so notable as exhibiting the mind of Giotto,
which is perhaps more fully seen in subjects
representing varied emotion, as in the sim-
plicity and repose which were peculiar to the

go GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

compositions of the early fourteenth century.
In order to judge of it fairly, it ought first to
be compared with any classical composition —
with a portion, for instance, of the Elgin
frieze, — which would instantly make manifest
in it a strange seriousness and dignity and
slowness of motion, resulting chiefly from the
excessive simplicity of all its terminal lines.
Observe, for instance, the pure wave from the
back of the Virgin's head to the ground ; and
again, the delicate swelling line along her
shoulder and left arm, opposed to the nearly
unbroken fall of the drapery of the figure in
front. It should then be compared with an
Egyptian or Ninevite series of figures, which,
by contrast, would bring out its perfect sweet-
ness and grace, as well as its variety of
expression : finally, it should be compared
with any composition subsequent to the time
of Raflfaelle, in order to feel its noble freedom
from pictorial artifice and attitude. These
three comparisons cannot be made carefully
without a sense of profound reverence for the
national spirit * which could produce a design

* National, because Giotto's works are properly to be
looked on as the fruit of their own age, and the food of
that which followed.

yatts &• Cram/to

XII

THE VIKOIX MARY RETURNS TO HER HOUSE

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 9 1

SO majestic, and yet remain content with one
so simple.

The small loggia of the Virgin's house is
noticeable, as being different from the archi-
tecture introduced in the other pictures, and
more accurately representing the Italian Gothic
of the dwelling-house of the period. The
arches of the windows have no capitals ; but
this omission is either to save time, or to
prevent the background from becoming too
conspicuous. All the real buildings designed
by Giotto have the capital completely de-
veloped.

Here again, as in No. X., the relief of the faces against
the dark sky is noticed in the Introduction (§ 2i), and lost in
the photograph. — Ei5. 1S99.

XIII.

THE ANNUNCIATION.— THE ANGEL
GABRIEL.

This figure is placed on one side of the
arch at the east end of the body of the chapel ;
the corresponding figure of the Virgin being
set on the other side. It was a constant
practice of the mediaeval artists thus to divide
this subject ; which, indeed, was so often
painted, that the meaning of the separated
figures of the Angel and Mary was as well
understood as when they were seen in juxta-
position. Indeed, on the two sides of this
arch they would hardly be considered as
separated, since very frequently they were
set to answer to each other from the opposite
extremities of a large space of architecture.*

The figure of the Angel is notable chiefly
for its serenity, as opposed to the later

* As, for instance, on the two opposite angles of the

fa9ade of the Cathedral of Rheims.

92

I 'a us ity* Crainpion, sc.

XIII

THE ANNUNCIATION— THE ANGEL GABRIEL

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 93

conceptions of the scene, in which he falls into
the chamber upon the wing, like a stooping
falcon.

The building above is more developed than
in any other of the Arena paintings ; but it
must always remain a matter of question,
why so exquisite a designer of architecture
as Giotto should introduce forms so harsh
and meagre into his backgrounds. Possibly
he felt that the very faults of the architec-
ture enhanced the grace and increased the
importance of the figures ; at least, the pro-
ceeding seems to me inexplicable on any other
theory.*

* (Note by a friend:) "I suppose you will not admit as
"an explanation, that he had not yet turned his mind to
" architectural composition, the Campanile being some
" thirty years later?"

I

XIV.

THE ANNUNCIATION.— THE
VIRGIN MARY.

Vasari, in his notice of one of Giotto's
Annunciations, praises him for having justly
rendered the /ear of the Virgin at the address
of the Angel. If he ever treated the subject
in such a manner, he departed from all the
traditions of his time ; for I am aware of
no painting of this scene, during the course
of the thirteenth and following centuries,
which does not represent the Virgin as
perfectly tranquil, receiving the message of
the Angel in solemn thought and gentle
humility, but without a shadow of fear. It
was reserved for the painters of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries to change angelic
majesty into reckless impetuosity, and maiden
ineditation into panic dread.

The face of the Virgin is slightly dis-
appointing. Giotto never reached a very high

94

VaiiS ^ Cra>n/>lOfi, sc.

XIV

THE ANNUNCIATION— THE VIRGIN MARY

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 95

Standard of beauty in feature ; depending
much on distant effect in all his works, and
therefore more on general arrangement of
colour and sincerity of gesture, than on re-
finement of drawing in the countenance.

XV.

THE SALUTATION.

This picture, placed beneath the figure of
the Virgin Annunciate at the east end of the
chapel, and necessarily small, (as will be
seen by the plan,) in consequence of the
space occupied by the arch which it flanks,
begins the second or lower series of frescoes ;
being, at the same time, the first of the great
chain of more familiar subjects, in which we
have the power of comparing the conceptions
of Giotto not only with the designs of earlier
ages, but with the efforts which subsequent
masters have made to exalt or vary the ideas
of the principal scenes in the life of the Virgin
and of Christ. The two paintings of the
Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Annunciate
hardly provoke such a comparison, being
almost statue-like in the calm subjection of
all dramatic interest to the symmetrical dig-
nity and beauty of the two figures, leading,

96

\

I'aus &■ CrLttufto):, S< .

XV
'I'HE SALUTATION

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 9/

as they do, the whole system of the decoration
of the chapel ; but this of the Salutation is
treated with no such reference to the archi-
tecture, and at once challenges comparison
with the works of later masters.

Nor is the challenge feebly maintained. I
have no hesitation in saying, that, among
all the renderings of this scene which now
exist, I remember none which gives the pure
depth and plain facts of it so perfectly as this
of Giotto's. Of majestic women bowing them-
selves to beautiful and meek girls, both wear-
ing gorgeous robes, in the midst of lovely
scenery, or at the doors of Palladian palaces,
we have enough ; but I do not know any
picture which seems to me to give so truth-
ful an idea of the action with which Elizabeth
and Mary must actually have met, — which
gives so exactly the way in which Elizabeth
would stretch her arms, and stoop and gaze
into Mary's face, and the way in which Mary's
hand would slip beneath Elizabeth's arms,
and raise her up to kiss her. I know not
any Elizabeth so full of intense love, and
joy, and humbleness ; hardly any Madonna
in which tenderness and dignity are so quietly

98 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

blended. She not less humble, and yet
accepting the reverence of Elizabeth as her
appointed portion, saying, in her simplicity
and truth, " He that is mighty hath magnified
me, and holy is His name." The longer that
this group is looked upon, the more it will be
felt that Giotto has done well to withdraw
from it nearly all accessories of landscape
and adornment, and to trust it to the power
of its own deep expression. We may gaze
upon the two silent figures until their silence
seems to be broken, and the words of the
question and reply sound in our ears, low, as
if from far away :

"Whence is this to me, that the Mother
" of my Lord should come to me ? "

" My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my
" spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."

i'ncs (Ir Cra}>ipto)it sc

XVI
THE NATIVITY

XVI.

THE NATIVITY.

I am not sure whether I shall do well or
kindly in telling the reader anything about
this beautiful design. Perhaps the less he
knows about early art or early traditions, the
more deeply he will feel its purity and truth ;
for there is scarcely an incident here, or
anything in the manner of representing the
incidents, which is not mentioned or justified
in Scripture. The bold hilly background
reminds us tliat Bethlehem was in the hill-
country of Judah. But it may seem to have
two purposes besides this literal one : the
first, that it increases the idea of exposure and
loneliness in the birth of Christ ; the second,
that the masses of the great hills, with the
angels floating round them in the horizontal
clouds, may in some sort represent to our
thoughts the power and space of that heaven

99

lOO GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

and earth whose Lord is being laid in the
manger-cradle.

There is an exquisite truth and sweetness
in the way the Virgin turns upon the couch,
in order herself to assist in laying the Child
down. Giotto is in this exactly faithful to the
scriptural words : " She wrapped the Child
" in swaddling-clothes, and laid Him in a
" manger." Joseph sits beneath in meditation ;
above, the angels, all exulting, and, as it
were, confused with joy, flutter and circle in
the air like birds, — three looking up to the
Father's throne with praise and thankfulness,
one stooping to adore the Prince of Peace,
one flying to tell the shepherds. There is
something to me peculiarly affecting in this
disorder of theirs ; even angels, as it were,
breaking their ranks with wonder, and not
knowing how to utter their gladness and
passion of praise. There is noticeable here,
as in all works of this early time, a certain
confidence in the way in which the angels
trust to their wings, very characteristic of a
period of bold and simple conception. Modern
science has taught us that a wing cannot be
anatomically joined to a shoulder; and in

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. lOI

proportion as painters approach more and
more to the scientific, as distinguished from
the contemplative state of mind, they put the
wings of their angels on more timidly, and
dwell with greater emphasis upon the human
form, and with less upon the wings, until these
last become a species of decorative appendage,
— a mere sign of an angel. But in Giotto's
time an angel was a complete creature, as
much believed in as a bird ; and the way in
which it would or might cast itself into the
air, and lean hither and thither upon its
plumes, was as naturally apprehended as the
manner of flight of a chough or a starling.
Hence Dante's simple and most exquisite
synonym for angel, " Bird of God ; " and
hence also a variety and picturesqueness in
the expression of the movements of the
heavenly hierarchies by the earlier painters,
ill replaced by the powers of foreshortening,
and throwing naked limbs into fantastic
positions, which appear in the cherubic
groups of later times.

It is needless to point out the frank asso-
ciation of the two events, — the Nativity, and
appearance of the Angel to the Shepherds.

I02 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

They are constantly thus joined ; but I do
not remember any other example in which
they are joined so boldly. Usually the
shepherds are seen in the distance, or are
introduced in some ornamental border, or
other inferior place. The view of painting as
a mode of suggesting relative or consecutive
thoughts, rather than a realisation of any one
scene, is seldom so fearlessly asserted, even
by Giotto, as here, in placing the flocks of the
shepherds at the foot of the Virgin's bed.

This bed, it will be noticed, is on a shelf
of rock. This is in compliance with the idea
founded on the Protevangelion and the
apocryphal book known as the Gospel of
Infancy, that our Saviour was born in a cave,
associated with the scriptural statement that
He was laid in a manger, of which the
apocryphal gospels do not speak.

The vain endeavour to exalt the awe of
the moment of the Saviour's birth has turned,
in these gospels, tlie outhouse of the inn into
a species of subterranean chapel, full of in-
cense and candles. " It was after sunset,
''■ when the old woman (the midwife), and
"Joseph with her, reached the cave; and

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. IO3

" they both went into it. And behold, it was
" all filled with light, greater than the light
" of lamps and candles, and greater than the
"fight of the sun itself" (Infancy, i. 9.)
" Then a bright cloud overshadowed the
" cave, and the midwife said : This day my
" soul is magnified." (Protevangelion, xiv.
10.) The thirteenth chapter of the Protevan-
gelion is, however, a little more skilful in
this attempt at exaltation. " And leaving
" her and his sons in the cave, Joseph went
" forth to seek a Hebrew midwife in the
" village of Bethlehem. But as I was going,
" said Joseph, I looked up into the air, and
" I saw the clouds astonished, and the fowls
" of the air stopping in the midst of their
" flight. And I looked down towards the earth
" and saw a table spread, and working-people
" sitting around it ; but their hands were on
" the table, and they did not move to eat.
" But all their faces were fixed upwards."
(Protevangelion, xiii. i-/-)

It would, of course, be absurd to endeavour
to institute any comparison between the
various pictures of this subject, innumerable
as they are ; but I must at least deprecate

104 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

Lord Lindsay's characterising this design of
Giotto's merely as the " Byzantine composi-
tion." It contains, indeed, nothing more than
the materials of the Byzantine composition ;
but I know no Byzantine Nativity which at
all resembles it in the grace and life of its
action. And, for full a century after Giotto's
time, in Northern Europe, the Nativity was
represented in a far more conventional manner
than this ; — usually only the heads of the
ox and ass are seen, and they are arranging,
or holding with their mouths, the drapery of
the couch of the Child, who is not being laid
in it b}' the Virgin, but raised upon a kind
of tablet high above her in the centre of the
group. All these early designs, without ex-
ception, however, agree in expressing a certain
degree of languor in the figure of the Virgin,
and in making her recumbent on the bed.
It is not till the fifteenth century that she
is represented as exempt from suffering, and
immediatel}^ kneeling in adoration before the
Child.

i^'uu^ i.'h' Lru/Ji/'iu/i,

XVII
THE WISE MEN'S OFFERLNG

XVII.

THE WISE MEN'S OFFERING.

This is a subject which has been so great
a favourite with the painters of later periods,
and on which so much rich incidental inven-
tion has been lavished, that Giotto's rendering
of it cannot but be felt to be barren. It is, in
fact, perhaps the least powerful of all the
series ; and its effect is further marred by
what Lord Lindsay has partly noted, the
appearance — perhaps accidental, but if so,
exceedingly unskilful — of matronly corpulence
in the figure of the Madonna. The unfortu-
nate failure in tlie representation of the legs
and' chests of the camels, and tlie awkward-
ness of the attempt to render the action of
kneeling in the foremost king, put the whole
composition into the class — not in itself an un-
interesting one — of the slips or shortcomings
of great masters. One incident in it only

is worth observing. In other compositions

105

I06 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

of this time, and in many later ones, the
kings are generally presenting their offerings
themselves, and the Child takes them in His
hand, or smiles at them. The painters who
thought this an undignified conception left
the presents in the hands of the attendants
of the Magi. But Giotto considers how pre-
sents would be received by an actual king ;
and as what has been offered to a monarch is
delivered to the care of his attendants, Giotto
puts a waiting angel to receive the gifts, as
not worthy to be placed in the hands of the
Infant.

The angel holds an incense-box in his hand, and at his
feet lies a crown. — Ed. 1899.

Pans & L ri>>fi/'fon, sc.

XVIII
THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE

XVIII.

THE PRESENTATION IN THE
TEMPLE.

This design is one of those which are
pecuHarly characteristic of Giotto as the head
of the Naturalisti.* No painter before his
time would have dared to represent the Child
Jesus as desiring to quit the arms of Simeon,
or the Virgin as in some sort interfering with
the prophet's earnest contemplation of the
Child by stretching her arms to receive Him.
The idea is evidently a false one, quite un-
worthy of the higher painters of the religious
school; and it is a matter of peculiar interest
to see what must have been the strength of
Giotto's love of plain facts, which could force
him to stoop so low in the conception of this
most touching scene. The child does not, it
will be observed, merely stretch its arm to the
Madonna, but is even struggling to escape,
violently raising the left foot. But there is

* See account of his principles al)ovc, p. 24, § 12 C.

107

I08 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

another incident in the composition, witnessing
as notably to Giotto's powerful grasp of all the
facts of his subject as this does to his some-
what hard and plain manner of grasping them ;
— I mean the angel approaching Simeon, as if
with a message. The peculiar interest of the
Presentation is for the most part inadequately
represented in painting, because it is impossible
to imply the fact of Simeon's having waited so
long in the hope of beholding his Lord, or to
inform the spectator of the feeling in which he
utters the song of hope fulfilled. Giotto has,
it seems to me, done all that he could to make
us remember this peculiar meaning of the
scene; for I think I cannot be deceived in
interpreting the flying angel, with its branch
of palm or lily, to be the Angel of Death, sent
in visible fulfilment of the thankful words of
Simeon : ** Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant
depart in peace." The figure of Anna is poor
and uninteresting;* that of the attendant, on
the extreme left, very beautiful, both in its
drapery and in the severe and elevated char-
acter of the features and head-dress.

* She looks at the Child, and bears a scroll with the
words, " Quoniam in isto erit redeiBptio seculi " — (" Since in
Him shall be the redemption of the race "). — Ed. 1S99.

XIX.

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.

Giotto again shows, in his treatment of this
subject, a juster understanding of the probable
facts than most other painters. It becomes
the almost universal habit of later artists to
regard the flight as both sudden and secret,
undertaken by Joseph and Mary, unattended,
in the dawn of the morning, or " by night,"
so soon as Joseph had awaked from sleep.
(Matt. ii. 14.) Without a continuous miracle,
which it is unnecessary in this case to sup-
pose, such a lonely journey would have been
nearly impracticable. Nor was instant flight
necessary ; for Herod's order for the massacre
could not be issued until he had been con-
vinced, by the protracted absence of the "Wise
Men, that he was "mocked of them." In all
probability the exact nature and extent of the
danger was revealed to Joseph ; and he would

log

I lO GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

make the necessary preparations for his
journey with such speed as he could, and
depart " b}'' night " indeed, but not in the
instant of awakening from his dream. The
ordinary impression seems to have been
received from the words of the Gospel of
Infancy : " Go into Egypt as soon as the cock
crows." And the interest of the flight is
rendering more thrilling, in late compositions,
by the introduction of armed pursuers. Giotto
has given a far more quiet, deliberate, and
probable character to the whole scene, while
he has fully marked the fact of divine pro-
tection and command in the figure of the
guiding angel. Nor is the picture less
interesting in its marked expression of the
night. The figures are all distinctly seen, and
there is no broad distribution of the gloom ;
but the vigorous blackness of the dress of the
attendant who holds the bridle, and the
scattered glitter of the lights on the Madonna's
robe, are enough to produce the required effect
on the mind.

The figure of the Virgin is singularly digni-
fied : the broad and severe curves traced by the

yatts dr Craynplott, sc»

XIX
THE FLKiHT INTO EGYPT

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. Ill

hem and deepest folds of her dress materially
conducing to the nobleness of the group.
The Child is partly sustained by a band
fastened round the Madonna's neck. The
quaint and delicate pattern on this band,
together with that of the embroidered edges of
the dress,* is of great value in opposing and
making more manifest the severe and grave
outlines of the whole figure, whose impressive-
ness is also partly increased by the rise of the
mountain just above it, like a tent. A vulgar
composer would have moved this peak to the
right or left, and lost its power.

This mountain background is also of great
use in deepening the sense of gloom and
danger on the desert road. The trees repre-
sented as growing on the heights have
probably been rendered indistinct by time.
In early manuscripts such portions are invari-
ably those which suffer most; the green (on
which the leaves were once drawn with dark
colours) mouldering away, and the lines of
drawing with it. But even in what is here

* These are necessarily lost in the reproduction. — Ed.
1899.

112 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

left there is noticeable more careful study of
the distinction between the trees with thick
spreading foliage, the group of two with light
branches and few leaves, and the tree stripped
and dead at the bottom of the ravine,* than
an historical painter would now think it con-
sistent with his dignity to bestow.

* Not very clearly seen in the reproduction at the back
of the central figure of the group to the left of the design.- -
Ed. 1899.

Fans &• Craiiifion.

XX

THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS

XX.

MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS.

Of all the series, this composition is the one
which exhibits most of Giotto's weaknesses.
All early work is apt to fail in the render-
ing of violent action : but Giotto is, in this
instance, inferior not only to his successors,
but to the feeblest of the miniature-painters
of the thirteenth century ; while his imperfect
drawing is seen at its worst in the nude
figures of the children. It is, in fact, almost
impossible to understand how any Italian,
familiar with the eager gesticulations of the
lower orders of his countrywomen on the
smallest points of dispute with each other,
should have been incapable of giving more
adequate expression of true action and passion
to the group of mothers ; and, if I were not
afraid of being accused of special pleading, I
might insist at some length on a dim faith of

II

3 H

114 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

my own, that Giotto thought the actual agony
and strivings of the probable scene unfit for
pictorial treatment, or for common contempla-
tion ; and that he chose rather to give motion-
less types and personifications of the soldiers
and women, than to use his strength and
realistic faculty in bringing before the vulgar
eye the unseemly struggle or unspeakable
pain. The formal arrangement of the heap
of corpses in the centre of the group ; the
crowded standing of the mothers, as in a
choir of sorrow; the actual presence of Herod,
to whom some of tliem appear to be appealing,
— all seem to me to mark this intention ; and
to make the composition only a symbol or
shadow of the great deed of massacre, not a
realisation of its visible continuance at an}'
moment. I will not press this conjecture;
but will only add, that if it be so, I think
Giotto was perfectly right ; and that a pic-
ture thus conceived might have been deeply
impressive, had it been more successfully
executed ; and a calmer, more continuous,
comfortless grief expressed in the counte-
nances of the women. Far better thus, than

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. I I 5

with the horrible analysis of agony, and detail
of despair, with which this same scene, one
which ought never to have been made the
subject of painting at all, has been gloated
over by artists of more degraded times.

XXI.

THE YOUNG CHRIST IN THE
TEMPLE.

This composition has suffered so grievously
by time, that even the portions of it which
remain are seen to the greatest disadvantage.
Little more than various conditions of scar
and stain can be now traced, where were
once the draperies of the figures in the
shade, and the suspended garland and arches
on the right hand of the spectator; and in
endeavouring not to represent more than
there is authority for, the draughtsman and
engraver have necessarily produced a less
satisfactory plate than most others of the
series.* But Giotto has also himself fallen

* The present reproduction shows clearly the condition of

the design. Several of the figures are scarcely visible. The

young Christ is seated in the middle with five doctors on

either side. To the left SS. Mary and Joseph are seen

entering, and Mary stretches out her arms to the Christ. —

Ed. 1899.

116

XXI

THE VOUXG CHRIST IN IHK TEMPLE

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA, I I /

considerably below his usual standard. The
faces appear to be cold and hard ; and the
attitudes are as little graceful as expres-
sive either of attention or surprise. The
Madonna's action, stretching her arms to
embrace her Son, is prett}' ; but, on the
whole, the picture has no value ; and this
is the more remarkable, as there were fewer
precedents of treatment in this case than in
any of the others ; and it might have been
anticipated that Giotto would have put him-
self to some pains when the field of thought
was comparatively new. The subject of
Christ teaching in the Temple rarely occurs
in manuscripts ; but all the others were per-
petually repeated in the service-books of the
period.

XXII.

THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST.

This is a more interesting work than the
last ; but it is also gravely and strangely
deficient in power of entering into the sub-
ject ; and this, I think, is common with nearly
all efforts that have hitherto been made at its
representation. I have never seen a picture
of the Baptism, by any painter whatever,
which was not below the average power of
the painter; and in this conception of Giotto's,
the humility of St. John is entirely unex-
pressed, and the gesture of Christ has hardly
any meaning : it neither is in harmony with
the words, " Suffer it to be so now," which
must have been uttered before the moment
of actual baptism, nor does it in the slightest
degree indicate the sense in the Redeemer of
now entering upon the great work of His
ministry. In the earlier representations of
the subject, the humility of St. John is never

ii8

--.^

Va us &• Ci '

XXII
THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. I I 9

lost sight of; there will be seen, for instance,
an effort at expressing it by the slightly stoop-
ing attitude and bent knee, even in the very
rude design given in outline on the opposite
page. I have thought it worth while to set
before the reader in this outline one example
of the sort of traditional representations which
were current throughout Christendom before
Giotto arose. This instance is taken from a
large choir-book, probably of French, certainly
of Northern execution, towards the close of
the thirteenth century ; * and it is a very fair
average example of the manner of design in
the illuminated work of the period. The in-
troduction of the scroll, with the legend, "This
is My beloved Son," is both more true to the
scriptural words, " Lo, a voice from heaven,"
and more reverent, than Giotto's introduction
of the visible figure, as a type of the First
Person of the Trinity. The boldness with
which this type is introduced increases pre-
cisely as the religious sentiment of art de-
creases; in the fifteenth century it becomes
utterly revolting.

The exact date, 1290, is given in the title-page of the
volume.

I 20 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

I have given this woodcut * for another
reason also : to explain more clearly the mode
in which Giotto deduced the strange form
which he has given to the stream of the
Jordan. In the earlier Northern works it is
merely a green wave, rising to the Saviour's
waist, as seen in the woodcut. Giotto, for
the sake of getting standing-ground for his
figures, gives shores to this wave, retaining
its swelling form in the centre, — a very pain-
ful and unsuccessful attempt at reconciling
typical drawing with laws of perspective. f Or
perhaps it is less to be regarded as an effort
at progress, than as an awkward combination
of the Eastern and Western types of the
Jordan. In the difference between these
types there is matter of some interest. Lord
Lindsa}^, who merely characterises this work
of Giotto's as " the Byzantine composition,"
thus describes the usual Byzantine manner
of representing the Baptism :

"The Saviour stands immersed to the
" middle in Jordan {^floiving between two deep

* This has been reduced in size for this edition. — Ed.
1899.

t A fish in the river to the left of the Christ is not seen in
the reproduction. — Kd. 1899.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 121

" and rocky hanks), on one of which stands
" St. John, pouring the water on His head,
" and on the other two angels hold His robes.
" The Holy Spirit descends upon Him as a
" dove, in a stream of light, from God the
" Father, usually represented by a hand from
" Heaven. Two of John's disciples stand
" behind him as spectators. Frequently the
" riveT-god of Jordan reclines with his oars
" in the corner. * * * In the Baptistery
" at Ravenna, the robe is supported, not
" by an angel, but by the river-deity Jordann
" (lordanes ?), who holds in his left hand a
" reed as his sceptre."

Now in this mode of representing rivers
there is something more than the mere Pagan
tradition lingering through the wrecks of the
Eastern Empire. A river, in the East and
South, is necessarily recognised more dis-
tinctly as a beneficent power than in the West
and North. The narrowest and feeblest stream
is felt to have an influence on the life of
mankind ; and is counted among the posses-
sions, or honoured among the deities, of the
people who dwell beside it. Hence the impor-
tance given, in the Byzantine compositions,

122 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

to the name and speciality of the Jordan
stream. In the North such pecuHar definite-
ness and importance can never be attached
to the name of any single fountain. Water,
in its various forms of streamlet, rain, or
river, is felt as an universal gift of heaven,
not as an inheritance of a particular spot of
earth. Hence, with the Gothic artists gener-
ally, the personality of the Jordan is lost in
the green and nameless wave ; and the simple
rite of the Baptism is dwelt upon, without
endeavouring, as Giotto has done, to draw
the attention to the rocky shores of Bethabara
and ^non, or to the fact that "there was
much water there."

XXIII.

THE MARRIAGE IN CANA.

It is strange that the sweet significance
of this first of the miracles should have been
lost sight of by nearly all artists after Giotto ;
and that no effort was made by them to
conceive the circumstances of it in simpli-
city. The poverty of the family in which the
marriage took place, — proved sufficiently by
the fact that a carpenter's wife not only was
asked as a chief guest, but even had authority
over the servants, — is shown further to have
been distressful, or at least embarrassed,
poverty by their want of wine on such an
occasion. It was not certainly to remedy
an accident of careless provision, but to
supply a need sorrowfully betraying the
narrow circumstances of His hosts, that our
Lord wrought the beginning of miracles.
Many mystic meanings have been sought in

the act, which, though there is no need to

123

124 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

deny, there is little evidence to certify : but
we may joyfully accept, as its first indisput-
able meaning, that of simple kindness ; the
wine being provided here, when needed, as
the bread and fish were afterwards for the
hungry multitudes. The whole value of the
miracle, in its serviceable tenderness, is at
once effaced when the marriage is supposed,
as by Veronese and other artists of later
times, to have taken place at the house of a
rich man. For the rest, Giotto sufficiently
implies, by the Hfted hand of the Madonna,
and the action of the fingers of the bride-
groom, as if they held sacramental bread,
that there lay a deeper meaning under the
miracle for those who could accept it. How
all miracle is accepted by common humanity,
he has also shown in the figure of the ruler
of the feast, drinking. This unregarding
forgetfulness of present spiritual power is
similarly marked by Veronese, by placing
the figure of a fool with his bauble immedi-
ately underneath that of Christ, and by making
a cat play with her shadow in one of the
wine-vases.

It is to be remembered, however, in

XXIII
THE MARRIAGE IN CANA

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 12 5

examining all pictures of this subject, that the
miracle was not made manifest to all the
guests ; — to none indeed, seemingly, except
Christ's own disciples : the ruler of the feast,
and probably most of tliose present (except
the servants who drew the water), knew or
observed nothing of what was passing, and
merely thought tlie good wine had been " kept
until now."

XXIV.

THE RAISING OF LAZARUS.

In consequence of the intermediate position
which Giotto occupies between the Byzantine
and Naturalist schools, two relations of treat-
ment are to be generally noted in his work.
As compared with the Byzantines, he is a
realist, whose power consists in the intro-
duction of living character and various
incidents, modifying the formerly received
Byzantine symbols. So far as he has to
do this, he is a realist of the purest kind,
endeavouring always to conceive events pre-
cisely as they were likely to have happened ;
not to idealise them into forms artfully im-
pressive to the spectator. But in so far as
he was compelled to retain, or did not wish
to reject, the figurative character of the
Byzantine symbols, he stands opposed to
succeeding realists, in the quantity of mean-
ing which probably lies hidden in any

126

Vaus (fr Ci'amftou, Sr

XXIV
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 12/

composition, as well as in the simplicity with
which he will probably treat it, in order to
enforce or guide to this meaning : the figures
being often letters of a hieroglyphic, which
he will not multiply, lest he should lose in
force of suggestion what he gained in dramatic
interest.

None of the compositions display more
clearly this typical and reflective character
than that of the Raising of Lazarus. Later
designers dwell on vulgar conditions of
wonder or horror, such as they could con-
ceive likely to attend the resuscitation of a
corpse ; but with Giotto the physical re-
animation is the type of a spiritual one, and,
though shown to be miraculous, is yet in
all its deeper aspects unperturbed, and calm
in awfulness. It is also visibly gradual.
" His face was bound about with a napkin."
The nearest Apostle has withdrawn the
covering from the face, and looks for the
command which shall restore it from wasted
corruption, and sealed blindness, to living
power and light.

Nor is it, I believe, without meaning, that
the two ApostleSj if indeed they are intended

128 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

for Apostles, who stand at Lazarus' side, wear
a different dress from those who follow Christ.
I suppose them to be intended for images of
the Christian and Jewish Churches in their
ministration to the dead soul : the one re-
moving its bonds, but looking to Christ for
the word and power of life ; the other
inactive and helpless — the veil upon its face
— in dread ; while the principal figure fulfils
the order it receives in fearless simplicity.*

* Mary and Martha are seen kneeling at the Saviour's
feet.— Ed. 1899.

I'tJiis c5- Cra)n/'tc>:, ,S, .

XXV

THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM

XXV.

THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM.

This design suffers much from loss of colour

in translation. Its decorative effect depends

on the deep blue ground, relieving the delicate

foliage and the local colours of dresses and

architecture. It is also one of those which

are most directly opposed to modern feeling :

the sympathy of the spectator with the passion

of the crowd being somewhat rudely checked

by the grotesque action of two of the foremost

figures. We ought, however, rather to envy

tlie deep seriousness which could not be

moved from dwelling on the real power of

the scene by any ungracefulness or familiarity

of circumstance. Among men whose minds

are rightly toned, nothing is ludicrous : it

must, if an act, be either right or wrong, noble

or base ; if a thing seen, it must either be

ugly or beautiful : and what is either wrong

or deformed is not, among noble persons, in

129 J

130 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

anywise subject for laughter ; but, in the pre-
cise degree of its wrongness or deformity, a
subject of horror. All perception of what, in
the modern European mind, falls under the
general head of the ludicrous, is either childish
or profane ; often healthy, as indicative of
vigorous animal life, but always degraded in
its relation to manly conditions of thought.
It has a secondary use in its power of detect-
ing vulgar imposture ; but it only obtains this
power by denying the highest truths.*

* The action of the two figures in the trees is somewhat
lost in the reproduction : they are, of course, breaking off
branches of pahn. The figure at the feet of the ass is laying
his garments in the way ; and behind him a second figure
is preparing to do so. The head of the colt of the ass is
just visible between the figure of the Saviour and the group
behind him. — Ed. 1899.

I'a2ts &' Lrainptou

XXVI
THE EXPULSION FROM THE TEMPLE

XXVI.

THE EXPULSION FROM THE
TEMPLE.

More properly, the Expulsion from the
outer Court of the Temple (Court of Gentiles),
as Giotto has indicated by placing the porch
of the Temple itself in the background.

The design shows, as clearly as that of the
Massacre of the Innocents, Giotto's want of
power, and partly of desire, to represent rapid
or forceful action. The raising of the right
hand, not holding any scourge,* resembles the

* In the Arundel Society's woodcut there is no scourge,
and Mr. Ruskin wrote evidently with the woodcut and not
the original before him. The photographic reproduction
shows clearly the scourge of cord above and below the
hand. The animals to the left appear to be a cow and a
sheep ; one of those to the right, a ram. The figure to the
Saviour's left carries a birdcage (not very clearly seen in
the reproduction) while a larger cage is seen at his feet, and
there are other cages or coops in the background. In the
foreground is an overturned table. The child with the dove
is clearly seen ; tlie second child less evidently, clinging to the
knees of one of the apostles who bends over it. — Ed. 1S99.

131

132 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

action afterwards adopted by Orcagna, and
finally by Michael Angelo in his Last Judg-
ment : and my belief is, that Giotto considered
this act of Christ's as partly typical of the
final judgment, the Pharisees being placed on
the left hand, and the disciples on the right.
From the faded remains of the fresco, the
draughtsman could not determine what animals
are intended by those on the left hand. But
the most curious incident (so far as I know,
found only in this design of the Expulsion, no
subsequent painter repeating it,) is the shelter-
ing of the two children, one of them carrying
a dove, under the arm and cloak of two
disciples. Many meanings might easily be
suggested in this; but I see no evidence for
the adoption of any distinct one.

I'aus l:- ( ranift^i'i^

XXVII
THE HIRING OF TUDAS

XXVII.

THE HIRING OF JUDAS.

The only point of material interest pre-
sented by this design is the decrepit and
distorted shadow of the demon, respecting
which it may be well to remind the reader
that all the great Italian thinkers concurred
in assuming decrepitude or disease, as well
as ugliness, to be a characteristic of all
natures of evil. Whatever the extent of the
power granted to evil spirits, it was always
abominable and contemptible ; no element of
beauty or heroism was ever allowed to remain,
however obscured, in the aspect of a fallen
angel. Also, the demoniacal nature was
shown in acts of betrayal, torture, or wanton
hostility ; never in valiancy or perseverance
of contest. I recollect no mediaeval demon
who shows as much insulting, resisting, or
contending power as Bunyan's Apollj'on.

They can only cheat, undermine, and mock ;

133 •

134 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

never overthrow. Judas, as we should natu-
rally anticipate, has not in this scene the
nimbus of an Apostle ; yet we shall find it
restored to him in the next design. We shall
discover the reason of this only by a careful
consideration of the meaning of that fresco.*

* No nimbus is shown in the Arundel Society's woodcut,
and the dark mass seen in the photographic reproduction
above Judas' head may not be one. Lord Lindsay observes
that "Judas is drest in yellow or saffron, the colour of
treachery, constantly appropriated to him in ancient art." —
Ed. 1S99.

I'an; &• Crtitnpton, sc.

XXVIII
THE LAST SUPPER

XXVIII.

THE LAST SUPPER.

I have not examined the original fresco with
care enough to be able to say whether the
uninteresting quietness of its design is re-
deemed by more than ordinary attention to
expression ; it is one of the least attractive
subjects in the Arena Chapel, and always sure
to be passed over in any general observation
of the series : nevertheless, however un-
favourably it may at first contrast with the
designs of later masters, and especially with
Leonardo's, the reader should not fail to
observe that Giotto's aim, had it been success-
ful, was the higher of the two, as giving truer
rendering of the probable fact. There is no
distinct evidence, in the sacred text, of the
annunciation of coming treachery having pro-
duced among the disciples the violent sur-
prise and agitation represented by Leonardo.
Naturally, they would not at first understand

•35

136 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

what was meant. They knew nothing dis-
tinctly of the machinations of the priests ; and
SO little of the character or purposes of Judas,
that even after he had received the sop which
was to point him out to the others as false ; —
and after they liad heard the injunction,
"That thou doest, do quiclcly," — the other
disciples had still no conception of the signifi-
cance, either of the saying, or the act : they
thought that Christ meant he was to buy
something for the feast. Nay, Judas himself,
so far from starting, as a convicted traitor,
and thereby betraying himself, as in Leonardo's
picture, had not, when Christ's first words
were uttered, any immediately active intention
formed. The devil had not entered into him
until he received the sop. The passage in
St. John's account is a curious one, and little
noticed ; but it marks very distinctly the
paralysed state of the man's mind. He had
talked with the priests, covenanted with them,
and even sought opportunity to bring Jesus
into their hands ; but while such opportunity
was wanting, the act had never presented
itself fully to him for adoption or rejection.
He had toyed with it, dreamed over it,

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. I 3 7

hesitated, and procrastinated over it, as a
stupid and cowardly person would, such as
traitors are apt to be. But the way of retreat
was yet open ; the conquest of the tempter not
complete. Only after receiving the sop the
idea finally presented itself clearly, and was
accepted, "To-night, while He is in the
garden, I can do it; and I will." And Giotto
has indicated this distinctly by giving Judas
still the Apostle's nimbus,* both in this subject
and in that of the Washing of the Feet ; while
it is taken away in the previous subject of the
Hiring, and the following one of tlie Seizure :
thus it fluctuates, expires, and reillumines
itself, until his fall is consummated. This
being the general state of the Apostles' know-
ledge, the words, " One of you shall betray
me," would excite no feeling in their minds
correspondent to that with which we now read
the prophetic sentence. What this " giving
up" of their Master meant became a question
of bitter and self-searching thought with them,
— gradually of intense sorrow and questioning.
But had they understood it in the sense we

* Here the niml:)us, clear in a large photograph of the
fresco, is scarcely seen in the small reproductions. — Ep. 1899.

138 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

now understand it, they would never have
each asked, " Lord, is it I ? " Peter beheved
himself incapable even of denying Christ : and
of giving Him up to death for money, every
one of His true disciples knew themselves
incapable; the thought never occurred to
them. In slowly-increasing wonder and
sorrow {^p^avro XvireiaOai, Mark xiv. 19),
not knowing what was meant, they asked one
by one, with pauses between, " Is it I ? " and
another, "Is it I?" and this so quietly and
timidly that the one who was lying on Christ's
breast never stirred from his place ; and Peter,
afraid to speak, signed to him to ask who it
was. One further circumstance, showing that
this was the real state of their minds, we shall
find Giotto take cognisance of in the next
fresco.

P'aics &' Cra})ipto}i, sc.

XXIX

THE WASHING OF THE FEET

XXIX.
THE WASHING OF THE FEET.

In this design, it will be observed, there
are still the twelve disciples, and the nimbus
is yet given to Judas (though, as it were,
setting, his face not being seen).*

Considering the deep interest and import-
ance of every circumstance of the Last
Supper, I cannot understand how preachers
and commentators pass by the difficulty of
clearly understanding the periods indicated
in St. John's account of it. It seems that
Christ must have risen while they were still
eating, must have washed their feet as they
sate or reclined at the table, just as the
Magdalen had washed His own feet in the

* There is, I tliink, some error here, owing to the loss of
likeness in the faces in the reproduction of the Arundel
Society. Judas is not hidden behind the figure to the extreme
right, but is the centre of the three figures to the extreme left.
This is clear from the face, the likeness of which is carefully
preserved in this and the two preceding designs. — En. iSyg.

'39

140 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

Pharisee's house ; that, this done, He re-
turned to the table, and the disciples continu-
ing to eat, presently gave the sop to Judas.*
For St. John says, that he having received
the sop, went immediately out ; yet that
Christ had washed his feet is certain, from
the words, "Ye are clean, but not all."
Whatever view the reader may, on delibera-
tion, choose to accept, Giotto's is clear,
namely, that though not cleansed by the
baptism, Judas was yet capable of being
cleansed. The devil had not entered into
him at the time of the washing of the feet,
and he retains tlie sign of an Apostle.

The composition is one of the most beau-
tiful of the series, especially owing to the
submissive grace of the two standing figures.

* It may be worth noting that Giotto gives the same scene
to both this and the previous design. The two canopies are
identical in the smallest details. — Ed. 1899.

J 'alls &■ CraDif'tofi. Sc.

XXX
THE KISS OF JUDAS

V

XXX.

THE KISS OF JUDAS.

For the first time we have Giotto's idea of
the face of the traitor clearly shown. It is
not, I think, traceable through any of the
previous series ; * and it has often surprised
me to observe how impossible it was in the
works of almost any of the sacred painters
to determine by the mere cast of feature which
was meant for the false Apostle. Here, how-
ever, Giotto's theory of physiognomy, and
together with it his idea of the character of
Judas, are perceivable enough. It is evident
that he looks upon Judas mainly as a sensual

* I do not understand this view, as the face is clearly
seen in the design of the Hiring, and, as identified above,
in that of the Washing of the Feet, although not quite so clear
in the Last Supper. What is remarkable is the complete
change of feature in this design of the Kiss. Instead of the
thin, hatchet-like people, we have a much coarser type.
Perhaps the difference is due to restoration. Lord Lindsay
notices the singular placidity of Malchus as St. Peter cuts
off his ear. — Ed. 1899.

141

142 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

dullard, and foul-brained fool ; a man in no
respect exalted in bad eminence of treachery
above the mass of common traitors, but merely
a distinct type of the eternal treachery' to
good, in vulgar men, which stoops beneath,
and opposes in its appointed measure, the life
and efforts of all noble persons, their natural
enemies in this world ; as the slime lies under
a clear stream running through an earthy
meadow. Our careless and thoughtless
English use of the word into which the Greek
" Diabolos " has been shortened, blinds us in
general to the meaning of " Devilry," which,
in its essence, is nothing else than slander, or
traitorhood ; — the accusing and giving up of
good. In particular it has blinded us to the
meaning of Christ's words, " Have not I chosen
" you twelve, and one of you is a traitor and
" accuser ? " and led us to think that the " one
of you is a devil " indicated some greater than
human wickedness in Judas; whereas the
practical meaning of the entire fact of Judas'
ministry and fall is, that out of any twelve
men chosen for the forwarding of any purpose,
— or, much more, out of any twelve men we
meet, — one, probabl}', is or will be a Judas.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 1 43

The modern German renderings of all the
scenes of Christ's life in which the traitor is
conspicuous are very curious in their vulgar
misunderstanding of the history, and their
consequent endeavours to represent Judas as
more diabolic than selfish, treacherous, and
stupid men are in all their generations. They
paint him usually projected against strong
effects of light, in lurid chiaroscuro ; — en-
larging the whites of his eyes, and making
him frown, grin, and gnash his teeth on all
occasions, so as to appear among the other
Apostles invariably in the aspect of a Gorgon.

How much more deepl}' Giotto has fathomed
the fact, I believe all men will admit who have
sufficient purity and abhorrence of falsehood
to recognise it in its daily presence, and who
know how the devil's strongest work is done
for him by men who are too bestial to under-
stand what they betray.

XXXI.
CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS.

Little is to be observed in this design of
any distinctive merit ; it is only a somewhat
completer version of the ordinary representa-
tion given in illuminated missals and other
conventual work, suggesting, as if they had
happened at the same moment, the answer,
" If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the
evil," and the accusation of blasphemy which
causes the high-priest to rend his clothes.

Apparently distrustful of his power of
obtaining interest of a higher kind, Giotto
has treated the enrichments more carefully
than usual, down even to the steps of the
high-priest's seat. The torch and barred
shutters conspicuously indicate its being now
dead of night. That the torch is darker than
the chamber, if not an error in the drawing, is
probably the consequence of a darkening alter-
ation in the yellow colours used for the flame.

144

/ .i.'fj ifr Cyaiupton, .Si.

XXXI
CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS

laiiS & Cramptopi, sc ,

XXXII
THE SCOURGING OF CHRIST

XXXII.
THE SCOURGING OF CHRIST.

It is characteristic of Giotto's rational and
human view of all subjects admitting such
aspect, that he has insisted here chiefly on
the dejection and humiliation of Christ, making
no attempt to suggest to the spectator any
other divinity than that of patience made
perfect through suffering. Angclico's concep-
tion of the same subject is higher and more
mystical. He takes the moment when Christ
is blindfolded, and exaggerates almost into
monstrosity the vilcness of feature and
bitterness of sneer in the questioners, " Pro-
phesy unto us, who is he that smote thee ; "
but the bearing of the person of Christ is
entirely calm and unmoved ; and His eyes,
open, are seen through the blinding veil, in-
dicating the ceaseless omniscience.

This mystical rendering is, again, rejected
by the later realistic ]^ainters ; but while the

M5 K

146 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

earlier designers, with Giotto at their head,
dwelt chiefly on the humiliation and the
mockery, later painters dwelt on the physical
pain. In Titian's great picture of this subject
in the Louvre, one of the executioners is
thrusting the thorn-crown down upon the
brow with his rod, and the action of Christ
is that of a person suffering extreme physical
agony.

No representations of the scene exist, to my
knowledge, in which the mockery is either
sustained with indifference, or rebuked by
any stern or appealing expression of feature ;
yet one of these two forms of endurance would
appear, to a modern habit of thought, the
most natural and probable.

yaus &• C}a>i, •■

XXXIII
CHRIST BEARING HIS CROSS

XXXIII.

CHRIST BEARING HIS CROSS.

This design is one of great nobleness and
solemnity in the isolation of the principal
figure, and removal of all motives of interest
depending on accessories, or merely temporary
incidents. Even the Virgin and her attendant
women are kept in the background ; * all appeal
for sympathy through physical suffering is
disdained. Christ is not represented as borne
down by the weight of the Cross, nor as
urged forward by the impatience of the
executioners. The thing to be shown, — the
unspeakable mystery, — is the simple fact, the
Bearing of the Cross by the Redeemer. It
would be vain to compare the respective merits
or value of a design thus treated, and of
one like Veronese's of this same subject, in
which every essential accessory and probable

* She is kept back by a man in front of her ; he turns
round and has his hand on her breast. — Ed. 1S99.

H7

148 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

incident is completely conceived. The ab-
stract and symbolical suggestion will always
appeal to one order of minds, the dramatic
completeness to another. Unquestionably, the
last is the greater achievement of intellect,
but the manner and habit of thought are
perhaps loftier in Giotto. Veronese leads us
to perceive the reality of the act, and Giotto
to understand its intention.

XXXIV.

THE CRUCIFIXION.

The treatment of this subject was, in

Giotto's time, so rigidly fixed by tradition

that it was out of his power to display any

of his own special modes of thought ; and, as

in the Bearing of the Cross, so here, but yet

more distinctly, the temporary circumstances

are little regarded, the significance of the

event being alone cared for. But even long

after this time, in all the pictures of the

Crucifixion by the great masters, with the

single exception perhaps of that by Tintoret

in the Church of San Cassano at Venice,

there is a tendency to treat the painting as

a symmetrical image, or collective symbol of

sacred mysteries, rather than as a dramatic

representation. Even in Tintoret's great

Crucifixion in the School of St. Roch, the

group of fainting women forms a kind of

pedestal for the Cross. The flying angels

149

150 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

in the composition before us are thus also
treated with a restraint hardly passing the
Hmits of decorative symboHsm. The fading
away of their figures into flame-hke cloud
may perhaps be founded on the verse, " He
" maketh His angels spirits ; His ministers a
" flame of fire" (though erroneously, the right
reading of that verse being, *' He maketh
" the winds His messengers, and the flaming
" fire His servant ") ; but it seems to me to
give a greater sense of possible truth than
the entire figures, treading the clouds with
naked feet, of Perugino and his successors.*

* The Magdalen is seen at the foot of the cross, wiping
the feet of Christ with her hair. Around the cross are
angels, some of whom have bowls in which they are catch-
ing the blood that flows from the Saviour's hands and side,
while another bares His breast in agony. In the group to
the right is a soldier with the rod and sponge, his face some-
what hidden by the uplifted arm of tlie figure with a nimbus
—and, perhaps, the centurion — who points to the cross,
above which is the mural tal)let with the words, " Hie est
Jesus Nazarenus rex Judseorum." — Ed. 1899.

I'aiis &' Cra^nplo)!, Si.

XXXIN'
THE CRUCIFIXION

XXXV.

THE ENTOMBMENT.*

It may be generally observed that the
passionateness of the sorrow both of the
Virgin and disciples, is represented by Giotto
and all great following designers as reach-
ing its crisis at the Entombment, not at
the Crucifixion. The expectation that, after

* The account of this design was prefaced in the original

edition by the following paragraph relating to the woodcut

and another reproduction of it — a line engraving — aheady

published by the Arundel Society : — •" I do not consider

' that in fulfilling the task of interpreter intrusted to me,

' with respect to this series of engravings, I may in general

' permit myself to unite with it the duty of a critic. But

' in the execution of a laborious series of engravings, some

' must of course he better, some worse ; and it would be

' unjust, no less to the reader than to Giotto, if 1 allowed

' this plate to pass without some admission of its inadequacy.

■ It may possibly have been treated with a little less care

' than the rest, in the knowledge that the finished plate,

' aheady in the possession of the members of the Arundel

' Society, superseded any effort with inferior means ; be

' that as it may, the tenderness of Giotto's composition is,

' in the engraving before us, lost to an unusual degree."

— Ed. 1S99.

151

152 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA,

experiencing every form of human suftering,
Christ would yet come down from the cross,
or in some other visible and immediate
manner achieve for Himself the victory,
might be conceived to have supported in a
measure the minds of those among His
disciples who watched by His cross. But
when the agony was closed by actual death,
and the full strain was put upon their faith,
by their laying in the sepulclire, wrapped in
His grave-clothes, Him in whom they trusted,
" that it had been He which should have re-
deemed Israel," their sorrow became suddenly
hopeless ; a gulf of horror opened, almost
at unawares, under their feet ; and in the
poignancy of her astonied despair, it was
no marvel that the agony of the Madonna
in the "Pieta" became subordinately asso-
ciated in the mind of the early Church with
that of their Lord Himself; — a type of
consummate human suffering.*

* Lord Lindsay's identification of tlie different figures in
this design is as follows : — The body rests on the knees of
the Virgin, who clasps the neck with her arms and bends
forward to give it the last caress, her face disfigured by
intense sorrow; Mary Magdalen supports the feet, Mary,
sister of Lazarus, on tlie further side, clasps the hands, —

I'aits Cir Crmnpfon^ si\

XXXV

thf: entombment

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. I 5 3

Martha and the women from Galilee stand in bitter grief to
the left : two figures in green and yellow drapery, their faces
muffled up and invisible, sit with their backs towards the
spectators, most impressive in their silent immobility ; while
St. John, who seems to have just returned to the mourning
group, leans forward as if addressing the Virgin, pointing
upwards with his right hand, and with his left to Nicodemus
and Nathaniel, standing at the right extremity of the com-
partment, as if saying, "All is now ready" — for the inter-
ment.— Ed. 1S99.

XXXVI.

THE RESURRECTION.

Quite one of the loveliest designs of the
series. It was a favourite subject with Giotto;
meeting, in all its conditions, his love of what
was most mysterious, yet most comforting
and full of hope, in the doctrines of his re-
ligion. His joy in the fact of the Resurrection,
his sense of its function, as the key and
primal truth of Christianity, was far too deep
to allow him to dwell on any of its minor
circumstances, as later designers did, repre-
senting the moment of bursting the tomb,
and the supposed terror of its guards. With
Giotto the leading thought is not of physical
reanimation, nor of the momentarily exerted
power of breaking the bars of the grave ; but
the consummation of Christ's work in the
first manifesting to human eyes, and the eyes
of one who had loved Him and believed in
Him, His power to take again the life He

154

I'lUa O'^ (_ raynf'lon

XXXVI

THE RESURRECTION

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. I 5 5

had laid down. This first appearance to her
out of whom He had cast seven devils is
indeed the very central fact of the Resurrec-
tion. The keepers had not seen Christ ; they
had seen only the angel descending, whose
countenance was like lightning : for fear of
him they became as dead ; yet this fear,
though great enough to cause them to swoon,
was so far conquered at the return of morn-
ing, that they were ready to take money-
payment for giving a false report of the
circumstances. The Magdalen, therefore, is
the first witness of the Resurrection ; to the
love, for whose sake much had been forgiven,
this gift is also first given ; and as the first
witness of the truth, so she is the first mes-
senger of the Gospel. To the Apostles it was
granted to proclaim the Resurrection to all
nations ; but the Magdalen was bidden to
proclaim it to the Apostles.

In the chapel of the Bargello, Giotto has
rendered this scene with yet more passionate
sympathy. Here, however, its significance
is more thoughtfully indicated through all the
accessories, down even to the withered trees
above the sepulchre, while those of the

156 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

garden burst into leaf. This could hardly
escape notice, when the barren boughs were
compared by the spectator with the rich
foliage of the neighbouring designs, though,
in the detached plate, it might easily be lost
sight of.*

* A withered tree near the tomb is also seen in the preced-
ing picture. The "neighbouring designs" refer to those in
the chapel, just above this one of the Resurrection, viz.,
Nos. 24 and 25, the Raising of Lazarus and the Entry into
Jerusalem, in both of which there is a good deal of foliage.
(See the plan of the chapel at p. 51). Lord Lindsay notices
that Mary wears "her red robe of love," and that the Saviour
is speaking the words, "Touch Me not." The banner in
His hand is inscribed " Victor Mortis."— Ed. 1S99.

I'aiiS & Cramptot^ sc.

XXXVII
THE ASCENSION

XXXVII.

THE ASCENSION.

Giotto continues to exert all his strength
on these closing subjects. None of the
Byzantine or earlier Italian painters ventured
to introduce the entire figure of Christ in
this scene : they showed the feet only, con-
cealing the body ; according to the text, " a
cloud received Him out of their sight." This
composition, graceful as it is daring, conve^'s
the idea of ascending motion more forcibly
than any that I remember by other than
Venetian painters. Much of its power de-
pends on the continuity of line obtained by
the half-floating figures of the two warning
angels.

I cannot understand vvhy this subject was
so seldom treated by religious painters : for
the harmony of Christian creed depends as
much upon it as on the Resurrection itself;

while the circumstances of the Ascension,

157

I 5 8 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

in their brightness, promise, miraculousness,
and direct appeal to all the assembled
Apostles, seem more fitted to attract the
joyful contemplation of all who received the
faith. How morbid, and how deeply to be
mourned, was the temper of the Church which
could not be satisfied without perpetual re-
presentation of the tortures of Christ ; but
rarely dwelt on His triumph ! How more
than strange the concessions to this feeble-
ness by its greatest teachers ; such as that
of Titian, who, though he paints the Assump-
tion of the Madonna rather than a Pieta,
paints the Scourging and the Entombment
of Christ, with his best power, — but never
the Ascension !

Vaics & Cyci}npto>i, sc

XXXVIII
THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

XXXVIII.

THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT.

This last subject of the series, the quietest
and least interesting in treatment, yet ilhis-
trates sadly, and forcibly, the vital difference
between ancient and modern art.

The worst characters of modern work result
from its constant appeal to our desire of
change, and pathetic excitement ; while the
best features of the elder art appealed to
love of contemplation. It would appear to
be the object of the truest artists to give
permanence to images such as we should
always desire to behold, and might behold
without agitation ; while the inferior branches
of design are concerned with the acuter pas-
sions which depend on the turn of a narra-
tive, or the course of an emotion. Where
it is possible to unite these two sources

of pleasure, and, as in the Assumption

159

l60 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

of Titian, an action of absorbing interest is
united with perfect and perpetual elements
of beauty, the highest point of conception
would appear to have been touched : but in
the degree in which the interest of action
supersedes beauty of form and colour, the art
is lowered ; and where real deformity enters,
in any other degree than as a momentary
shadow or opposing force, the art is ille-
gitimate. Such art can exist only by acci-
dent, when a nation has forgotten or betrayed
the eternal purposes of its genius, and gives
birth to painters whom it cannot teach, and
to teachers whom it will not hear. The
best talents of all our English painters have
been spent either in endeavours to find room
for the expression of feelings which no master
guided to a worthy end, or to obtain the
attention of a public whose mind was dead
to natural beauty, by sharpness of satire, or
variety of dramatic circumstance.

The work to which England is now de-
voting herself withdraws her eyes from
beauty, as her heart from rest ; nor do 1
conceive any revival of great art to be
possible among us while the nation continues

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. l6l

in its present temper. As long as it can
bear to see misery and squalor in its streets,
it can neither invent nor accept human
beauty in its pictures ; and so long as in
passion of rivalry, or thrift of gain, it crushes
the roots of happiness, and forsakes the
ways of peace, the great souls whom it may
chance to produce will all pass away from
it helpless, in error, in wrath, or in silence.
Amiable visionaries may retire into the de-
light of devotional abstraction, strong men
of the world may yet hope to do service by
their rebuke or their satire ; but for the clear
sight of Love there will be no horizon, for its
quiet words no answer ; nor any place for
the art which alone is faithfully Religious,
because it is Lovely and True.

The series of engravings thus completed,
wliilc they present no characters on which
the members of the Arundel Society can
justifiably pride themselves, have, neverthe-
less, a real and effective value, if considered
as a series of maps of the Arena frescoes.

1 62 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA,

Few artists of eminence pass through Padua
without making studies of detached portions
of the decoration of this chapel, while no
artist has time to complete drawings of the
whole. Such fragmentary studies miglit now
at any time be engraved with advantage,
their place in the series being at once de-
terminable by reference to the woodcuts;
while qualities of expression could often be
obtained in engravings of single figures,
which are sure to be lost in an entire subject.
The most refined character is occasionally
dependent on a few happy and liglit touches,
which, in a single head, are effective, but
are too feeble to bear due part in an entire
composition, while, in the endeavour to rein-
force them, their vitality is lost. I believe
the members of the Arundel Society will
perceive, eventually, that no copies of works
of great art are worthily representative of
them but such as are made freely, and for
their own purposes, by great painters : the
best results obtainable by mechanical effort
will only be charts or plans of pictures, not
mirrors of them. Such charts it is well to
command in as great number as possible.

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. I 03

and with all attainable completeness ; but
the Society cannot be considered as having
entered on its true functions until it has
obtained the hearty co-operation of European
artists, and by the increase of its members,
the further power of representing the subtle
studies of masterly painters by the aid of
exquisite engraving.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

The following illustrations are those already
referred to at p. 53 {note). They consist of
the Last Judgment, and fourteen Virtues and
Vices.

The notes are cliiefly from the chapter on
the Ducal Palace in the second volume of
The Stones of Venice, where Mr. Ruskin, in
dealing with the vices and virtues sculptured
on some of the capitals of the palace, com-
pared with them the conceptions of Giotto
in the Arena Chapel, and of Spenser in the
Faerie Queene ; from Fors Clavigera, in the
first volume of which Mr. Ruskin repro-
duced, with some verbal description, five of
the virtues and vices (Hope, Envy, Charity,
Injustice, and Justice *) ; and from Lord

* The reproductions of these five in this book are identical

with those in the small edition of the first volume of Fors

Clavis;era. They were slightly reduced from those in the

8vo Fors, which were taken from the photographs of C.

Naya of Venice. The other illustrations in the present

volume are from the photographs sold by the authorities

of the chapel. — El). iSoo.

167

I 68 APPENDIX.

Lindsay's Christian Art, from which, for the
sake of completeness, the brief description of
the six frescoes in the choir is also given.
These, which deal with the death and glori-
fication of the Virgin, are not by Giotto, but
of a later date. They are not, therefore,
reproduced here. — Ed. 1899.

W

Q

H

<:

THE LAST JUDGMENT.

Beyond a passing reference to the treatment
of this subject by Giotto and others in the
second volume oi Modern Painters* this fresco
is not, I think, mentioned in Mr. Ruskin's
works. Lord Lindsay's description of it is
as follows •^—

" A very remarkable fresco. The general outline
is that of the traditional Byzantine composition. Our
Saviour, a majestic figure, seated within the vesica
piscis (the sky above him filled with a countless host
of angels, holding the banner of the cross, the column,
etc., others at his feet blowing the trumpet, and the
Apostles ranged by six and six to his right and left),
extends his open palm towards the elect, the back
of his hand towards the reprobate ; the former are
arranged in companies, each escorted by an angel,
kings, queens, monks, seculars, &c. ; some of their

* " In the Judgment of Angelico the treatment is purely
typical. . . . With (jiotto and Orcagna the conception,
though less rigid, is equally typical ; no effort being made
at the suggestion of space, and only so nnich ground repre-
sented as is absolutely necessary to support the near figures
and allow space for a few graves." (J/. P., II. 176 ; iii. 2,

3, 23. See also ]\I. P., II. 125 ; iii. i, 14, 29.)

169

170 . APPENDIX.

heads are beautiful. Lowest of all, to the left of the
fresco, the graves discharge the ' dead in Christ,'
the souls, as usual, represented as children, but (unin-
tentionally of course) with full-grown heads. The
Inferno occupies the whole right side of the com-
position. It is connected with the earth by a bridge
or natural arch, out of which issue the spirits of the
condemned. Satan sits in the midst munching
sinners, and around him the retributive punishments
of the condemned, and, in some instances, the
offences which prov ;ked them, are represented with
the most daring freedom. Between the Inferno and
the elect, directly beneath our Saviour, the cross is
supported in the air by two angels, who hold up the
transverse arm, while the lower end is sustained by
a small figure, of the size of a child,* who walks with
it downwards from the mountain which forms the
boundary of hell. Lower down, and to the left, a
kneeling figure, probably Enrico Scrovegno, accom-
panied by a monk, holds up the model of the chapel
towards three saints, of whom the central one seems
to be addressing him. This group is very beautiful."
— CJirisiiaii Art, ii. 195, 196.

The illustration opposite gives the group
mentioned by Lord Lindsay, and is an exact
reproduction of a vignette by G. J. Sershall,
which was given in the title-page to the
Arundel Society's set of woodcuts.

* Only part of its face and the lower part of its legs,
appearing from behind and l)elo\v the cross, are seen in tlie
fresco, and these are scarcely visilile in the reduced size of
the reproduction. — En. 1899.

ANGELS DELIVERING THE CHAPEL TO
ENRICO SCROVEGNO

THE VIRTUES AND VICES.

These are ranged on either side of the
chapel, each virtue facing its opponent vice.
(See the plan of the cliapel at p. 51.) Thus :—

a Prudence (172
b Fortitude (174) .
c Temperance (175)
(•/Justice (176)
e Faith (179) .
/Charity (180)
i^ Hope (182) .

) . fiurs

n Folly (193).

VI Inconstancy (192).

/ Wrath (191).

/• Injustice (188).

j Infidelity (187).

i Envy (185).

// Despair (184).

The following pages deal first with all
the virtues, and then with the vices. The
bracketed numbers in the list above give,
however, the pages at which each is de-
scribed, so that the reader or visitor to tlic
chapel can, if he choose, take each virtue and
vice alternately'.

171

PRUDENCE.

" I do not find, in any of the representations
of her, that her truly distinctive character,
namely, forethought, is enough insisted upon :
Giotto expresses her vigilance and just
measurement or estimate of all things by
painting her as Janus-headed,* and gazing
into a convex mirror, with compasses in her
right hand ; the convex mirror showing her
power of looking at many things in a small
compass. But forethought or anticipation,
by which, independently of greater or less
natural capacities, one man becomes more
prudent than another, is never enough con-
sidered or s3'mbolised." — Stoies of Venice,
II. viii. § 84.

Lord Lindsay's description adds little to

* The second face is somewhat indistinct in the small

reproduction, but quite clear in a large photograph of the

fresco. The long jianel at the foot of each of these frescoes

has an inscription of four Latin lines, almost entirely illegible

in every case. I do not know if any other record exists

of these inscriptions. — Ed. 1S99.

172

I'RL'Dl'lXCE

APPENDIX. 173

this, except the suggestion that the second
face is that of Socrates. He merely says : —

" Double-visaged, the head which looks backward
apparently that of Socrates ; seated at a reading-desk,
gazing into a mirror, — and holding in her right hand
a pair of compasses." — Christian Art.

FORTITUDE.

" The idea of Fortitude, as given generally
by Giotto and the Pisan sculptors . . . (shows
her) . . . clothed with a lion's skin, knotted
about her neck, and falling to her feet in deep
folds; drawing back her right liand, with the
sword pointed towards her enemy ; * and
slightly retired behind her immovable shield,
which, with Giotto, is square, and rested on
the ground like a tower, covering her up to
above the shoulders; bearing on it a lion,
and with broken heads of javelins deeply
infixed." — Siones of Venice, II. viii. 79.

Lord Lindsay's account is : —

' Robed in a lion's skin, and lialf sbellercd behind
a shield bearing the device of a lion, and bristled
with spear-heads and with a broken arrow, — but with
sword in hand, watching her opportunity to strike." —
C /wis/ 1 an Ar/.

* Both Mr. Ruskin and Lord Lindsay speak of this
weapon as a sword, but this does not seem clear.
— Ed. 1899.

174

FORTITUDE

TEMPERANCE

TEMPERANCE.

" In the sculptures of the Ducal Palace at
Venice this virtue appears as a figure bearing
a pitcher of water and a cup, in which * some-
what vulgar and most frequent conception '
(afterwards continually repeated, as by Sir
Joshua in his window at New College),
Temperance is compared with mere abstinence,
the opposite of Gula or gluttony, whereas the
Greek Temperance, a truly cardinal virtue, is
the moderator of all the passions, and so
represented by Giotto, who has placed a bridle
upon her lips, and a sword in her hand, the
hilt of which she is binding to the scabbard.
In his system, she is opposed among the
vices, not by Gula or gluttony, but by Ira,
anger." — Stones of Venice^ II. viii. 8o.

Lord Lindsay merely says : —

" Her mouth bridled, and holding a sword, which
she has bound round with tliongs so tightly that it
cannot be unsheathed, at least till they are un-

175

JUSTICE.

" Giotto has given his whole strength to
the painting of this virtue, representing her as
enthroned under a noble Gothic canopy, hold-
ing scales, not by the beam, but one in each
hand ; a beautiful idea, shov^^ing that the
equality of the scales of Justice is not owing
to natural laws, but to her own immediate
weighing causes in her own hands. In one
scale is an executioner beheading a criminal ;
in the other an angel crowning a man, who
seems (in Selvatico's plate), to have been
working at a desk or table. Beneath her
feet is a small predella, representing various
persons riding securely in the woods, and
others dancing to the sound of music." —
St07ies of Vetiice, II. viii. 83.

" I have given you this month* . . . Giotto's
Image of Justice, which, you observe, differs
somewhat from the Image of Justice we used
to set up in England, above insurance offices,

* This illustration forms the frontispiece to Fors of

November, 187 1.

176

i;l< ■.iflniiii,!,, ,i:i:l'.<ri •«' .

JUSTICE

APPENDIX. 177

and the like. Bandaged close about the
eyes, our English Justice was wont to be,
with a pair of grocers' scales in her hand,
wherewith, doubtless, she was accustomed to
weigh out accurately their shares to the land-
lords, and portions to the labourers, and re-
munerations to the capitalists. But Giotto's
Justice has no bandage about her eyes (Albert
Durer's has them round open, and flames
flashing from them), and weighs, not with
scales, but with her own hands ; and weighs,
not merely the shares or remunerations of
men, but the worth of them ; and finding
them worth this or that, gives them what
they deserve — death or honour. These are
her forms of Remuneration." — • Fors Cla-
vigera, Letter XI. 14.

Lord Lindsay's account is somewhat differ-
ent, as he speaks of the figure as ^^ adjusting
the scales." * He says : —

" Seated on a Gothic throne, and adjusting the
scales of a balance before her — a little angel, bending

* The l).ir of tlie scales and the cords hanging from either
end of it, down to the scales themselves, are not well seen
in this illustration. They are clear in the frontispiece to the
large (Svo) edition of /-'ots. But in neither that nor this
reproduction does the liar appear pendent from anything.
— Ed. 1899.

M

178 APPENDIX.

from one scale, offers a crown to a just man ; an
executioner, in the opposite scale, armed with a sword,
beheads an oppressor. Scenes of hunting, dancing,
etc., are represented in a small composition below,
indicating that the enjoyment of life is the fruit of the
equal enforcement of law." — CJirisiiaJi Arf.

FAITH

FAITH.

"Tlie Faith of Giotto holds the cross in
her right hand ; in her left, a scroll with the
Apostles' Creed.* She treads upon cabalistic
books, and has a key suspended to her waist.
Spenser's Fidelia is still more spiritual and
noble : —

' She was araied all in lilly white,
And in her right hand bore a cup of gold,
With wine and water fild up to the hight.
In which a serpent did himselfe enfold.
That horrour made to all that did behold ;
But she no whitt did chaunge her constant mood :
And in her other hand she fast did hold
A booke, that was l)oth signd and seald with blood
Wherein darke things were writt, hard to be understood.' "

— S/ones of Venice, II. viii. 78.

Lord Lindsay says : —

"A matronly figure, crowned with a mitre, her robe
tattered, in token of ' evangelical poverty,' the keys of
heaven hanging from her girdle— holding the Creed
in one hand, and trampling upon idols."

* The opening words only, " Credo in Deum Patreni

omnipotentem, creatorem ccx'li et terras, et in lesum Christum

filium Dei unigenitum." In the original fresco or a large

photograjih the cabalistic signs are clearly seen on the covers

of the books at her feet.— P2d. 1899.

179

CHARITY.

"She is distinguished from all the other
virtues by having a circular glory round her
head and a cross of fire ;* she is crowned with
flowers, presents with her right hand a vase
of corn and fruit, and with her left receives
treasure from Christ, who appears above her,
to provide her with the means of continual
offices of beneficence, while she tramples
under foot the treasures of the earth." — Stones
of Venice, II. viii. 82.

This account agrees with that of Lord
Lindsay, who says : —

"A middle-aged woman, dressed in a single robe,
crowned with a wreath of flowers, three flames of fire
lambent round her head, holding a dish of fruit with
one hand, and receiving with the other a purse from
the hand of God, and standing on bags of money."

* These are not seen in the ilhistraiion, so that unless
they have now faded from tlie fresco itself there would seem
to be some error of description. .Some flames of fire near
the head were, however, according to Lord Lindsay, part

of the design. — Ed. 1899.

180

ciiAKi rv

APPENDIX. I 8 I

In giving this design,, however, as a frontis-
piece to a number of Fors in July 1871, Mr.
Ruskin describes the object in the left hand
of the figure not as a purse or bag but as a
heart * : —

"... I give you with this letter the 'Charity'
of Giotto — the Red Queen of Dante, and ours
also — how different his thought of her is from
the common one. Usually she is nursing
children or giving mone3^ Giotto thinks
there is little charity in nursing children —
bears and wolves do that for their little ones —
and less still in giving money. His Charity
tramples upon bags of gold — has no use for
them. She gives only corn and flowers ; and
God's angel gives her not even these — but
a Heart. . . . Giotto is quite literal in his
meaning as well as figurative. Your love is to
give food and flowers, and to labour for them
only." — Fors Clavigera, Letter VII, 20-21.

Later on, in indexing this Fors, Mr. Ruskin
adds, " I doubt not I read the action wrong ;
she is giving her heart to God while she gives
gifts to men."

It is heart-shapcii, but appears to have a sort of handle
at the top. In Modern Painters (iii. 102 ; iv. 8, 7) the
reference to Giotto's Charity as a "somewhat painfully con-
ceived figure w'wh. flames issuing from the heart" must, I
think, be to some other representation. — Ed. 1899.

HOPE.

The description of this figure, both by Mr.
Ruskin and by Lord Lindsay, is very brief.
The former only says, " Winged, rising in the
air, while an angel holds a crown before her "
{Stones of Venice, II. viii. 85) ; while the
latter's account is : —

" A youthful female figure, winged, soaring upwards
towards a crown offered her by an angel." — Christian
Art.

We may add, however, Mr. Raskin's words
on the virtue itself: — •

"Of all the virtues, this is the most dis-
tinctively Christian (it could not, of course,
enter definitely into any Pagan scheme) ; and
above all others, it seems to me the testing
virtue, — that by the possession of which we
may most certainly determine whether we
are Christians or not ; for many men have
charity, that is to say, general kindness cf
heart, or even a kind of faith, who have
not any habitual hope of, or longing for,

heaven." — Stones of Venice, ib.

1S2

e^' - rar.-ur.

:-,,.Jij.-^^ »v ^'

HOPE

APPENDIX. I 8

0

This design was the first of these frescoes
to be given in Fors, where it forms the
frontispiece to the fifth letter (May 1871),
which, while it contains no description of
the fresco, deals with Wordsworth's well-
known line —

"We live by admiration, hope, and love."

Of these " three immaterial essentials to
life " writes Mr. Ruskin there, hope is " the
recognition, by true foresight, of better things
to be reached hereafter, whether by ourselves
or others ; necessarily issuing in the straight-
forward and undisappointed effort to advance,
according to our proper power, the gaining
of them.'

DESPAIR.

"A woman hanging herself, a fiend coming
for her soul." — Stones of Venice, II. viii. 73.

Lord Lindsay gives a different account,
saying :—

" She has hanged herself at the instigation of the
devil." — Christian Art.

i»4

*■.:

■. -J

ni'lSI'AIR

ENVY

ENVY.*

After describing the Ducal Palace sculpture,
in which *' she is pointing malignantly with
her finger ; a serpent is wreathed about her
head like a cap, another forms the girdle of
her waist, and a dragon rests in her lap,"
Mr. Ruskin proceeds : —

" Giotto has, however, represented her, with
still greater subtlety, as having her fingers
terminating in claws, and raising her right
hand with an expression partly of impotent
regret, partly of involuntary grasping; a
serpent, issuing from her mouth, is about
to bite her between the eyes; she has long-
membranous ears, horns on her head, and
flames consuming her body. The Envy of
Spenser is only inferior to that of Giotto,
because the idea of folly and quickness of

* Lord Lindsay's account is: — "An old woman standing
in flames, with the ear and the horns of Satan, a snake
issuing from her mouth \\hich turns round and bites her ;
she clutches a purse with her left hand, and stretches out

her right like a claw." — Christian Art.

.85

I 86 APPENDIX.

hearing is not suggested by the size of the
ear; in other respects it is even finer, joining
the idea of fur}^ in the wolf on which he rides,
with that of corruption on his hps, and of
discolouration or distortion in the whole
mind." * — Stones of Venice, II. viii. 93.

This fresco forms the frontispiece to the
sixth letter of Fors.

" Covetousness, lady of competition and of
deadly care ; cold above the altars of Ignoble
Victory, builder of streets, in cities of Ignoble
Peace. I have given you the picture of her —
your goddess and only Hope — as Giotto saw
her ; dominant in prosperous Italy as in
prosperous England, and having her hands
clawed then as now so that she can only
clutch, not work." — Fors Clavigera, Letter
VI., pp. 16-17.

* " Malicious Envy rode
Upon a ravenous wolfe, and still did chaw
Between his cankred teeth a venomous tode,
That all the poison ran about his jaw.

■ ••*<•

All in a kirtle of discoloured say

He clothed was, ypaynted full ot eies,

And in his bosoine secretly there lay

An hateful snake, the which his taile uptyes

In many folds, and monall sting implyes."

Faeiie Qiteene. i. 30, 31. Mr. Ruskin omits the last half
of stanza 30. — Ed. 1899.

INFIDELITY

INFIDELITY.*

" Most nobly symbolised as a woman
helmeted, the helmet having a broad rim
which keeps the light from her eyes. She is
covered with a heavy drapery, stands infirmly
as if about to fall, is bound by a cord round
her neck to an image which she carries in her
hand, and has flames bursting forth at her
feet." — Stones of Venice^ II. viii. 75.

Lord Lindsay's account is as follows : —

"A man (how just the satire !) standing totteringly
beside a fire, typical of heresy or hell, and supporting
in his right hand a female figure (Idolatry?) who
Iiolds a tree in her right hand and a cord (the emblem
of subjection) in her left, the cord being passed round
his neck." — Christian Art.

* II will be noticed that ncithei- the Sloiics of Venice nor
Christian Art notice the small figure in the upper right
hand corner. — En. 1899.

X87

INJUSTICE.*

"The figure used by Giotto, with the
particular intention of representing unjust
government, is represented at the gate of an
embattled castle in a forest, between rocks,
while various deeds of violence are com-
mitted at his feet." — Stojies of Venice, II.
viii. 10 1.

This design forms the frontispiece to
Letter X. of Fors Clavigera (" The Baron's
Gate," Sept. 1871), in which, after dealing
with the way in which the false lord con-
sumes the poor, Mr. Ruskin writes (pp.

16-17):—

" I have given you another of Giotto's

* Lord Lindsay's account is :— " A giant (so figured in

proportion to the trees and shrubs in front of him) seated

under tlie battlemented portal of his castle ; his hands armed

with talons — holding a sword and a long rake like those

with which they pull driftwood out of the rivers in Italy.

Below, in a small compartment, similar to the one on the

opposite wall, a lady is dismounted from her horse and

stripped by robbers." — Christian Art.

188

INJUSTICE

APPENDIX. I 89

pictures, this month, his imagination of In-
justice, which he had seen done in his time,
as we in ours ; and I am sorry to observe
that his Injustice hves in a battlemented
castle and in a mountain country, it appears;
the gate of it between rocks, and in the midst
of a wood ; but in Giotto's time woods were
too many, and towns too few. Also, Injustice
has indeed very ugly talons to his fingers,
like Envy ; and an ugly quadruple hook to
his lance, and other ominous resemblances to
the 'hooked bird,' the falcon, which both
knights and ladies too much delighted in.
Nevertheless Giotto's main idea about him is,
clearly, that he ' sits in the gate ' pacifically
with a cloak thrown over his chain armour
(you can just see the links of it appear at his
throat), and a plain citizen's cap for a helmet,
and his sword sheathed, while all robbery and
violence have way in the wild places round
him, — he heedless.

"Which is, indeed, the depth of Injustice:
not the harm you do, but that you permit to
be done, — hooking perhaps here and there
something to you with your clawed weapon
meanwhile. The baronial type exists still, I
fear, in such manner, here and there, in spite
of improving centuries."

190 APPENDIX.

This fresco is again noticed by Mr. Rus-
kin : —

" There are two kinds of mihtary building.
One the robber's castle, or stronghold, out of
which he issues to pillage ; the other, the
honest man's castle or stronghold, into which
he retreats from pillage. They are much like
each other in external forms ; but Injustice or
Unrighteousness sits in the gate of the one,
veiled with forest branches (see Giotto's
painting of him) ; and Justice or Righteous-
ness niters by the gate of the other, over
strewn forest branches." — Val d'Ai-no, § 32.

WRATH

ANGER.

This representation of Anger — "a woman
gazing upwards in fury and tearing open her
breast " * — is the same as that sculptured on
the Ducal Palace.

" Giotto represents this vice under the same
symbol, but it is the weakest of all the
frescoes in the Arena Chapel. The 'wrath'
of Spenser rides upon a lion, brandishing a
fire-brand, his garments stained with blood.
... It appears to me very strange that
neither Giotto nor Spenser should have given
any representation of the restrained Anger,
which is infinitely the most terrible ; both of
them make him violent." — Stones of Venice,
II. viii. 89.

* Ch> istian Art.

191

INCONSTANCY.

"A woman in loose drapery, falling from
a rolling globe." — Stones of Vetiice, II. viii.
70.

Lord Lindsay says : —

"Whirling round and round upon the wheel of
Fortune, the wind bellying her robe above her head."
— Christian Art.

192

INCONSTANCY

SSSBm^'-^^:.M^S^^

P^OLLY

FOLLY. .

This fresco is also but briefly described by
Mr. Ruskin, who mentions the "feather, cap,
(? feather-cap) and club," and says that " in
early manuscripts he is always eating with
one hand, and striking with the other ; in
later ones he has a cap and bells, or cap
crested with a cock's head, whence the word
'coxcomb.'" — Stones of Venice, II. viii. 97.

Lord Lindsay says of it : —

'"A man in an Indian dress, looking upwards, with
a club raised as if about to strike, reminding one of
Horace's lines : —

'Coeluni ipsuin petimus stultitia,' &c."

193

N

THE CHOIR.

NORTH WALL.

1. Gabriel appearing to the Virgin and offering her

the palm-branch from Paradise, in token of her
approaching death. Much injured and scarcely
recognisable.

2. The Virgin's dying interview with S. John. She

is sitting up in bed, and John kneels before her,
weeping and leaning his head on her lap. Our
Saviour hovers in the air above them, and, out-
side the building, three of the Apostles are seen
approaching, guided by a floating angel.

3. The Death of the Virgin, surrounded by the

Apostles. The By7antine composition, slightly
modified ; the angels have just given her soul
into the arms of Christ, who presses it to his
bosom.

SOUTH WALL.

4. The Funeral Procession ; — the bier borne by the

Apostles, S. John in front as chief mourner, and
carrying the palm-branch, — the High Priest's
arm withered, as he attempts to overthrow the
bier.

5. The Assumption of the Virgin, — rising to heaven,

attended by angels, the tomb below, and the
Apostles, fallen to the ground to the right and
left, veiling their faces or looking up after her.

6. The Coronation of the Vii-gin by our Saviour.

19^

INDEX.

INDEX.

N.B. — The references to the introduction are given in ordi-
nary figures and are double : viz. (a) to the sections of this
edition of the book ; and (b) in brackets, to the page of the
origitial edition. The Roman figures refer to the fiotes on the
different pictures, and apply equally to this and the origitial
edition of the book. In the case of the Appendix added to this
editio7i of the book the references are given thus — App. p. i68.

Abraham, iv.

Adam, apocryphal details of his life, 15 n., (27 n.),

^non, xxii.

Albigenses, maityrdom of the, 3, (10).

Angelico, I'ra, jewellery of, 23, (37).

,, ,, refinement of, 19, (32).

,, " Scourging of Christ," by, xxxii.

AngeL, confident flying of, in early art, xvi.

,, early and later painting of wings, ib.

,, Giotto's " Angel of Death," xviii.

,, ,, idea cf their appearing to men, ili.

the " birds of God " (Dante, e.g. " Purg." ii. 38), xvi.

Anger, Giotto's (Arena Chapel), 25 n., (43) ; App. p. igi.

Anna, mother of the Virgin, i. 1

,, ,, Appearance of the angel to, iii. I Giotto's

,, ,, meeting Joachim, vi. /frescoes.

,, ,, the birth of the Virgin, vii. I

Annunciation, early and later renderings of, xiii, xiv.

,, festival of, Padua, 2, (9).

,, figures of angel and Virgin divided, xiii.

,, Giotto's, xiv.

,, the Virgin always tranquil, xiv.

197

198 INDKX.

Architecture, Italian, demands fresco, 11, (20).
,, ,, fourteenth-century, 25, (39).

See s. Bourges, Byzantine, Cancellum, Ciborium, G ithic, Italian,
Norman, Palladio, Romanesque.

Arena Chapel, Padua, frescoes and plan of, 25 seqq.^ (40-47) ;

App. pp. 168, 194.
,, ,, how founded 2, (8).

,1 ,, Popery v. Reformaiion and, 3, (10).

,, ,, when built, 25, (39).

Arno, 4, (11).
Arnolfo, 18, (30).

Art, ancient and modern characteristics of, and differences be-
tween, .xxxviii.
beauty more than action in the best, ib.
European, 400-1200: {a) Byzantine, {b) Gothic, 10, (18).
,, 1300- 1400, painting meant to be decorative, 20,

(34).
its moral power, the main point, 13, (24).
killed by avarice and rivalry, xxxviii.

,, license, 16, (28).
religion and. See s. Religion,
servitude and license in, 16, (28).
symbolism and realism in, 23, (38).
value of studying early, 13, (24).

See s. Architecture, Arundel, Avarice, Byzantine, Change,
Chiaroscuro, Children, Colour, Copies, Crowds, Drapery, Dutch,
Elgin, English, Engravers, Engravings, Evil, Fact, Flemish,
French, Fresco, German, Glass-painting, Gothic, Heraldry, Illumi-
nation, Invention, License, Lindsay, Medieval, Modern, Mosaics,
Originality, Outline, Painters, Painting, Pictures, Precision, Pre-
Raphaelites, Purse, Rainbow, Religion, Rivalry, Romanesque,
Sculpture, Sentiment, Siena, Subjects, Supper, Symbolism, Venetian.

Artists, true objects of, to give permanence to beauty, xxxviii.
,, worldly position of early Italian, 17, (29).

For Artists named see s. Angelico, Arnolfo, Cimabue, Correggio,
Fabiano, Francesco Francia, Giunta, Gozzoli, Leonardo, M. Angelo,
Millais, Orcagna, Palladio, Pcrugino, Pisano, Raphael, Rembrandt,
Reynolds, Rubens, Tintoret, Titian, Vandyke, Veronese.

Arundel Society, value of their Giotto engravings, 21, (-35).

,, ,, ,, ,, xxxviii, a(/yf«.

,, work for, 12 «., (28 n.).

INDEX. 199

Ascension, the, xxxvii.

,, ,, ;x rare subject with religious painters, ib.

,, ,, treatment of, Byzantine, Giottesque, etc. , ii^.

Assisi, author not there till after 1854, 19, (32).

Giotto at, 18, (31).
Assumption, Titian's (Venice, Acad.), xxxvii-viii.
Atonement of father's sins by son's munificence, i, 2, (8-9).
Author, conscious of his interpretations seeming fanciful, xx.
,, never at Assisi till after 1854, 19, (52).
,, nor at Naples, ib.

,, study of Giotto, at Florence, not till after 1854, ib.
,, works of referred to : —

Fors Clavigera. App. passim.
Modern Painters, ib. pp. 169 «., 181 n.
Stones of Venice. App. J>assiiii.
Val d'Arno. ib. p 190.

Authorities quoted. See s. Adam, Gospel, Greek MS. , Harleian,

Herald's College, Holy Family, Infancy, Protevangelion.
Avarice, effect of, on art, xxxviii.
Avignon, Giotto at, iS, (31).

Baldinucci quoted on Giotto, 4, (11).
Baptism of Christ, by Giotto and others, xxii.

,, ,, usual representation of, fails, ib.

Bardi, anecdote of Giotto, "as if he were one of the Bardi,"

14. (25).
Bargello. See s. Florence.
Benedict IX., Pope, 15, (13).
Btthabara, xxii.

Bethlehem, the hill country uf Judah, xvi.
Bible, desire to know more of Christ than it tells us, 15, (26).

,, hence added to by early painters, ib.

,, quoted or referred to :

Gen. .xxii. 11. Abraham, appearance of angels to, iv.

Deut. iv. 24. 'A consuming fire.'

,, xx.tiv. 7. ' His eye not dim, nor his natural force ab.Tled,'

:8, 32.
Judges xiii. 21. Manoah, iv.

Psalm xxii. 14. ' All my bones are out of joint,' iv.

,. civ. 4. ' His angels spirits, His ministers . . . fire,'xxiv.

Isaiah ii. 2. 'The Lord's house . . . established in the top

of the mountains,' (Vulgate), i n. (8 «.).

200

INDEX.

Matt,

ii. 14, 16.

M

iii. 15, 17.

)>

xxvi. _'[, 22.

)»

xxvi. 68.

Mark

xiv. 19.

Luke

i. 43-49.

Bible, quoted or referred to, conti7iued :

Flight into Egypt, xix.

' Suffer it to be so now . . . well pleased,' xxii.
' One of you shall betray Me ... Is it I ? ' xxviii.
' Prophesy unto us, who is it smote thee ? '

xxviii.
' They began to be sorrowful,' ib.
' Whence is this to me, that the mother of my

Lord should come?' and the Magnificat, xv.
'She wrapped the Child . . . laid Him in a

manger,' xvi.
' Lord, now lettest thou thy servant,' xviii.
' Prophesy unto us,' xxxii.

' He which should have redeemed Israel.' xxxv.
'The good wine . . . kept until now,' xxiii.
' There was much water there,' xxii.
' Have I not chosen you twelve . . .,' xxx.
' His face . . . bound with a napkin,' xxiv.
' Ye are clean, but not all,' xxix.
' Tliat thou doest, do quickly,' xxviii
'If I have spoken evil, bear witness . . .,' xxxi.
' A bone of Him shall not be broken,' iv n.
' The wnrld itself could not contain the books,'

15,(26).
' A cloud received Him out of their sight,'

x.xxvii.
' He maketh His .ingels spirits,' xxxiv.

For various references to Biblical characters, events, topics, etc.,
see s. Abraham, Adam, JEnon, Angels, Anna, Annunciation,
Ascension, Assumption, Atonement, Baptism, Bethabara, Beth-
lehem, Birds of God, Birth of Christ, Caiaphas, Cana, Cave, Christ,
Crucifixion, Elizabeth, Entombment, Flight, Gabriel, God, Golden
Gate, Herodias, Holy Spirit, Joachim, Judas, Judgment, Last
Supper, Manoah, Manuscripts quoted. Miracles, Moses, Pente-
cost, Pieta, Presentation, Psalms, Rapliael, Sacrifice, Salutation,
Simeon, Supper, Temple, Virgin, Wise Men, Yfaya.

Birds of God. See s. Angels, Dante.

Birth of Christ, renderings of, in art, xvi.

Boniface VIII. (Pope) chooses Giotto to decorate Vatican, 6,

(14).
Bourges Cathedral, emblems in, 1-2 //., (7-8 //.).
Brera. See s. Milan.
British Museum, Greek MS. in, 12 «., {20 //.).

,, ,, Harleian MS. quoted, 26, (44).

Bunyan's Apollyon, xxvii.

„ n. 7.

" . "■ ^.'^■
,, xxii. 64.

,, xxiv. 21.

John ii. 10.

„ iii. 23.

,, vi. 70.

,, xi. 44.

,, xiii. 10.

,, xiii. 27.

,, xviii. 23.

,, xix. 36.

,, xxi. 25.

Acts i. 9.

Hebrews i. 7.

INDEX. 20 1

Byzantine art, xxiv.

,, ,, rise of, 10, (18).

,, ,, want of freedom in, 16, (28).

,, churches, plan of, i.

,, mosaics, colour of, 12, (21).

,, ,, in Italy, 11 A.

Caen. See s. Perugino.
Caiaphas, Christ before, xxxi.
Cana, marriage in, by Giotto and others, xxiii.
Cancellum, part of a Byzantine chuich, i.
Carrara, 4, (11).
Cary. See s. Dante.
Cassano, .San, Venice. See s. Tintoret.
Castello deir Uovo, Giotto at, 18, (31).
Cavaliers of Mary, 2, (q).
Cave, Nativity represented in a, xvi.
Change, love of, in modern work, xxxviii.
Charity, Giotto's (Arena), 25 n., (43) ; App. p. 180.
Chiaroscuro and colour, highest degrees of, incompatible, 2c, (34).
Children, painting of, before and by Raphael, viii.
Christ, desire to know more than the Bible tells us of, 15, (26).
,, scenes in the life of: —

baptism, xxii.

bearing His cross, xxxiii.

before Caiaphas, xxxi.

birth, xvi.

cleansing the Temple, xxvi.

entry into Jerusalem, xxv.

in the Temple with the doctors, xxi.
a rare subject in missal work, ib.

scourging of, xxxii.

washing the disciples' feet, xxix.
its meaning, ib.
the glory of, 25, (43).
Churches, Giotto's types of Christian and Jewish, xxiv.
Ciboriuni, part of a Byzantine church, i.
Cimabue, anecdote of, in Florence, 4, (12).
,, fresco introduced by, n, (20).
,, Giotto and, 4, (12).

202 INDEX.

Circle-drawing, 6, (15).

,, by Giotto (anecdote), 5-6, (13).

Ciuta, wife of Giotto, 26, (45).

Colour in European MSS. (700-900 black, 1000-1200 pale,
1200-1330 deep, 1330-1409 pale again), 12 A, (22).
See s. Chiaroscuro.
Composition, of Giotto, illustrated, vi, vii.
Copies of great art, difficulty of faithful, 22, (36).

,, ,, how best done, xxxviii, ad fin.

Correggio, 13, (23).
Crowds, early representation of, ix.
Crucifixion, the, its treatment by Giotto, Perugino, and Tin-

toret, xxxiv.
Crystal, simile from a, 13, (24).

Da Vinci. See s. Leonardo.
Dante, friend of Giotto, 13, (24).
,, painted by Giotto, 18, (30).
,, the Red Queen of, App. p 181.
,, translation by Cary, criticised, i «., (7 «.).
,, works of:

date of the " Divine Comedy," 18, (30).
quoted, " Inf.," xviii., on usury, i n., (7 ;/.).

" Par." vi. 4, angels, the birds of God, xvi.
Delesmanini, original owners of the Arena, Padua, i.
Descent of the Holy Spirit, Giotto's, xxxviii.
Despair, Giotto's (Arena), 25 w., (43) ; App. p. 184.
Devilry, treachery the true meaning of, xxx.
Diabolos, true meaning of, ib.
Dog, Joachim's, by Giotto, ii.
Dominican crusades, 3, (10).
Drapery, Giotto's, 12 B, 23, (23, 38), vi.

in French, Flemish, and German MSS., 12 B, (23),
,, in mosaics and early Italian art, 12 B, (23).

,, Sir J. Reynolds's "heroic maxim" on, 23, (38).
Titian's, 12 B, (23).
Dutch art, influence of, on modern, 23, (38).

EcjYPTiAN figures, xii. See s. Flight into Egypt.
Elgin marbles, xii.

INDEX. 203

Elizabeth meeting Mary, Giotto's, xv.

English art, misdirection of, xxxviii.

Engravers, difficulty of, in exactly rendering the faults of great

masters, 22, (36).
Engraving. See s. Arundel, Outline, Wood-engraving.
Entombment, The, by Giotto, xxxv.

,, ,, by Titian, xxxvii.

,, the climax of grief for Christ in early art, xxxv.

Envy, Giotto's (Arena), 25 «., (43) ; App. p. 185.
Evil and ugliness classed togethtr by Italian artists, xxvi.

Fabiano, Gentile da, jewel-painting by, 23, (37).

Fact, Pre-Raphaelite rendering of actual, 15, (27).

Faith, Giotto's (Arena), 25 «., (43) ; App. p. 179.

Federici quoted, 2, (9).

Ferrara, Giotto at, 18, (31).

F^sole, scenery near, 4, (11).

Fire, rising from the earth in N. Italy, 4, (12).

Flemish MSS. , drapery in, 13, (22).

Flight into Egypt, by Giotto and others, xix.

, , , , true nature of, ib.

Florence, Academy, Giotto's Madonnas, 19, (33).

,, Bargello, Giotto's work in the, 18 //., (30).

,, ,, his "Resurrection" there, xxxvi.

,, Duomo, Giotto designs fafade, 18, (30).

,, ,, ,, his work on it and the tower, 18, (31).

,, ,, ,, two bas-reliefs by his hand, /i^.

,, Giotto's life, death, and burial there, lb.
Santa Croce, Giotto's frescoes in, 19, (33).
Scenery between F^sole and, 4, (11). See s. Arno.
Folly, Giotto's (Arena), 25 n., (43) ; App. p. 193.
Foresight, App. p. 183.

Fortitude, Giotto's (Arena), 25 «., (43) ; App. p. 174.
Forster, on Campo Santo, 6 «., (14 n.).

,, ,, Giotto, 9, (18).
Francesco da Volterra, 6, (14).
Francia, refinement of, 19, (22).
French jjainting, no early, except on glass and in MSS., and

why, II, (19). See s. Drapery in MSS.
Fresco demanded by Italian architecture, 11, (20).

204 INDEX.

Fresco, early Italian, estalilished by Giotto, ii, (20).
introduced by Giunta of Pisa, //;.
,, Giotto's Arena Chapel, Padua, 25, and list 26, adjin.
(43 seqq.).

Gabriel, Giotto's Angel, xiii.

,, Raphael and, distinguished by Giotto, v.

Genius often unconscious of its methods and scornful of its

results, 8, (17).
German art, MSS., drapery in, 12 B, (23).

,, representations of Judas in modern, xxx.

Giotto —
(i) Hishfe:

anecdote of his circle-drawing, Giotto's O, 6-7, (15 16).

,, " paint me my arms" (Hardi), 14, (25).

childhood, 4, (11).
date of birth, doubtful, ib.
found by Cimabue, 4, (12).
in Florence, ib.

,, Rome, chosen to decorate Vatican, 4, (13).
life of, travels, etc., death, 18, (30).
marriage of, 26, (45).
scanty materials to write his life, 4, (10).
study needed to write his life, pref.
value of studying him, 13, (23).
view of himself, 14, (24).
(2) His position in the history of art :
a gi'eat man, 13, (24).
favoured by his time, 17, (29).

first painter in Italy in 1306, 4, 13, 17, (10, 24. 29).
founder of sacred painting, 7, (16).
fresco established by, 11, (20).
fruit of his own age, food of the next, xii n.
gives freedom to art, 16, (28).
heads a new era in art, 3, (10).

,, the Naturalists, xviii, xxiv.
midway between Byzantines and Naturalists, xxiv.
models of, Byzantine, 12, (20).

,, his later innovations on them, 12, (21).
paints only sacred subjects, and why, 14, (24).

INDEX. 205

Giotto, C07itinued :

(3) Characteristics and details of his work :

arcliitecture of his frescoes meagre, xii, xiii n.

backgrounds of, 23, (37).

chiaroscuro of, 20, (35).

child, painting of a, viii.

colour of, brilliant and noble, 19, (33).

,, " quartering," ib.
composition of, vi, vii, xix.
crowd, painting of a, ix.
dignity, xii.

drapery, 12, 23, (22, 38).
drawing of, faulty, 22, (36).
engraving of, best done on wood, 19-20, (33-34)-

,, what he loses in, ib. See s. Arundel,

essential features of, 23, (38).
expression, sweetness of, how given by, vi.
faces of, not realty beautiful, xiv.
facts, grasp of, and love of plain, xviii.
faults of drawing, 22, (36).

,, proportion, vii.
figures of, type, ii.

why sometimes cumbrous, 12, (22).
finish of, never high, 19, (32).
freedom of, instanced, xvi.
generally no high finish, firm outline, and broad touch,

19. (32).
idea of angels appearing to men, iii.

,, burnt sacrifice, iv.
love of shepherd life, 26, (44).
more akin to Titian than Raphael, 19, (33).
national spirit of, xii.
painted glass and his work, 20, (35).
power of, 9, (17).
seriousness, xxv.
simplicity, 23, (37), xii.
suggestiveness, ib., ib.
thoughtful arrangement of. See below s. (4), Works

of, Padua,
weakness of, xx, xxi, xxvi, xxxv.

206 INDEX.

Giotto, contimied :
(4) Works of:

Arena Chapel, Padua :

arrangement of frescoes thoughtful, 26, (43).
books followed by him in, 26, (44).
Entombment, 12 n., (20 n.).
frescoes in, list of, 25 and 7i., 26 seqq. (43 and n.,

46-47).
Last Judgment, 25, (43).
Meeting at Golden Gate, vi.
Resurrection, xxxvi.

,, a favourite subject, ib.

,, in the Bargello and Arena Chapel

compared, ib.
Virtues and Vices, 25 n., {43 n.) ; App. passim.
Wise Men's Offering, xvii.
Campo Santo, Pisa, 8, (13).

And see s. Angels, Anna, Annunciation, Arena, Arundel, Ascen-
sion, Assisi, Author, Avignon, Baptism, Bardi, Castello, Churches,
Circle, Ciuta, Composition, Crucifixion, Dante, Descent, Dog,
Drapery, Ferrara, Flight, Florence, Fcirster, Fresco, Gabriel,
Innocents, Joachim, Judas, Last Supper, Lindsay, Naples, Natu-
ralists, Nature, Orvieto, Pisa, Ravenna, Rods, Rome, Rumour,
Sacrifice, Salutation, Simeon, Supper, Vasari, Vatican, Verona,
Vespignano, Virgin, Wood-engraving.

Giunta of Pisa introduced fresco, 11, (20).

Glass-painting, early French, 11, (19).

God, the Father, how represented by Giotto and others, xxii.

,, ,, presence of, at sacrifices, signified by Giotto, iv.

Godenti, the, Federici on the Order of, 2-3, (9-10).
Golden Gate, the, of Jerusalem, iii.

,, ,, picture of meeting at, Giotto, vi,

Gosp;l, the, of Infancy, xvi, xix.

,, ,, Mary, 26 7;., (44 n.). See s. Mary.

Gotliic art, rise of, sign of powerful imagination, 10, (19).
,, spreads among different nations, ib. [ib.).

See s. Sculpture.
Gozzoli, Benozzo, backgrounds of, 23, (37).

,, ,, refinement of, ig, (32).

Greek MSS. in British Museum. 12 «., (20 71.).

INDEX. 207

Greek Testament quoted (Mark xiv. 19), ijp^c.vTO Xinretadai.

xxviii.
Grossteste, Bishop, 3, (10).

Harleian MSS. , 12 f!., 26 ;/., (20 n., 44«.).
Henry III. of Germany, grant of the Paduan Arena by, i, (7).
Heraldry in art, quartering, 19 and «., (33 and «.).
Heralds' College, MS. Life of Adam in the, 15 n., (27 n.).
Herodias, daughter of, fresco by Giotto, Sta. Croce, Florence,

19. (33)-
History, rarely written with absolute truth, 14, (25).

,, ,, ,, ,, especially sacred

history, id.
,, study of, that of human intellect, 13, (24).
Holy Family, History of the (Harleian MSS.), 26, (45), i, iv.
Holy Spirit, Descent of the, Giotto, xxxviii.
Hope, Giotto's (Arena), 25 «., (43); App. pp. 182-83.

,, the virtue of, generally, //'.
Horace, quoted, " Coclum petiniur de," App. p. 193.

Ilex, the, 4, (12).

Illumination, early French, 11, (19).

,, freedom nnd restraint in (i 100- 1300 border lines),

16, (28).
Inconstancy, Giotto's (Arena), 25 ;/., (43) ; App. p. 192.
Infancy, Gospel of, quoted, xvi, xix.
Infidelity, Giotto's (Arena) 25 n., (43) ; App. p. 187.
Injustice, ,, ,, i6. (//>.) ; App. p. 188.

Innocents, Holy, treatment of subject, by Giotto and others, xx.
Interpreters, difficulty of exact translation, 22, (36).
Invention of painters, 15, (27).
Italian architecture demands fresco, ir, (20).

,, early .art, its simplicity is not ignorance, 23, (38).

,, Gothic house, as drawn by Giotto, xii.

Joachim, 26, (43).

,, life of, Ijy Giotto :

At the Sheepfold, ii.
His Offering, i.
Meeting with Anna, vi.
Sacrifice, iv.
Vision, V.

I

208 INDEX.

John, S. , account of the Last Supper by, xxviii.

Jordan, seen as a river-god in early pictures of Christ's baptism,

xxii.
Judas, " capable of being cleansed," xxix.
,, lesson of his treachery, xxx.
,, pictures of, by Giotto :

Hiring of Judas, xxvii.
Kiss of Judas, xxx.
special cast of feature, ib.
with and without halo, xxviii.
,, representation of, in modern German art, xxx.
Judgment, the Last, by Giotto, 25, (43).
Justice, Giotto's (Arena), 25 n., (43) ; App. p. 176.

Last Judgment, Giotto's (Arena Chapel) ; App. p. 169.
,, Supper, by Giotto and Leonardo, xxviii.
,, ,, scrip;ural account of it, ?i^.

Lazarus, Raising of, by Giotto and others, xxiv.
Leonardo da Vinci, 13, (23).

,, ,, Last Supper, by, xxviii.

License and servitude in art, 16, (28).

Lindsay, Lord, "Christian Art " quoted, 5, 14, 18, (11, 25, 30),
and App. passim.
on Giotto, 6, 19, (15, 32), xxii.
,, his work :

Arena Chapel, generally, 2, 26, (9, 43-45).
Betrothal of the Virgin, xi.
Joachim's Offering, i.
The Nativity, xvi.
Wise Men, xvii.
Painting of children in early art, viii.
Pisa, Campo Santo, 16 n., (14).
Louvre. See s. Paris.
Ludicrous, nothing is, to right minds, xxv.

Magnolias, 4, (11).
Manoah, iv.

Manuscripts, colours used in, at different dates, 12 A, (21).
,, effects of age on colours in, xix.

See s. .'Authorities, Illumination.

INDEX. 209

Martin and Cahier's plates of Bourges Cathedral referred to,

I «., (7-8).
Mary, Cavaliers of, 2, (9).

,, Gospel of, quoted, 26 «., (44 n.).
,, ,, i, iii, viii, ix, xii.

,, Elizabeth and, xv.

See s. Elizabeth, Virgin.
Medieval art, 1300 its culminating date, 18 ri., (30).
Merry Brothers, the, or Knights of Mary, 2, (9).
Michael Angelo, his " Last Judgment," xxvi.
Milan (Brera), Raphael's " Betrothal," xi.
Millais' rendering of nature, 12, (22).

Milton, visions of, sometimes confounded with Scripture, 15, (27).
Miracles, common acceptance of, xxiii.

,, the first miracle, its lesson of simple kindness, xxiii.
Miser, picture of a, in mediaeval MS., i n., (7-8).
Missal. See s. Baptism, Illumination, Manuscript.
Modern (1854) art work more influenced by Dutch than Italian

masters, 23, (28).
Money, mediaeval views of using and hoarding, i 11., (7-8).
Mosaics, early Italian and Byzantine, 11-12, (20).

Giotto's, 18, (30).
Moses, " This Moses spak not of" (MS. 1500-1600 quoted), 15,

(27).
Mother-of-pearl, no shadow in, 20, (34).
Mystery-plays, English, 2, (9).
Mythology, use of the word, 14, (25).

Naples, Giotto at, 18, (31).

Naturalists, Giotto the chief of, xviii.

Nature, rendering of, by Giotto and the Pre-Raphaelite Brethren,

12, (22).
Naya's photographs of the Arena frescoes, App. p. 167, n.
Ninevite figures, xii.
Norman sculpture, drapery in, 12 B, (23).

O. See s. Giotto.
Oleanders, 4, (11).
Olive, 4, (11-12).
Opal, no shade in, 20, (34).

2 10 INDEX.

Oicagna, xxvi.

Originality, painter^j best show it in well-known subjects, 15,

(27-28).
Orvieto, Giotto at, 18, (31).
Outline, an insufficient means of reproducing pictures, 21, (35)'

Padua, Titian's frescoes at, 19, (33). See s. Arena, Giotto.
Painters, originality of, 15, {27-28).

Painting, early practice of, several scenes in one picture, vii.
most progressive when it has few subjects, 15, (27).
Palladio, xv.

Paris, Louvre, Titian's "Scourging of Christ," xx.xii.
Pentecost, xxxviii.
Perugino, backgrounds of, 23, (37).

Betrothal of the Virgm, Caen, xi.
Crucifixion, xxxiv.
Photographs of the Arena frescoes, App. p. 167, n.
Pictures, double, of early painters, vii.
old, part of a seiies, 24, {39).
Pieta, early pictures of the, x.xxv.
Pietra Mala, 4, (12).
Pisa, Campo Santo, 5, (13).

Francesco da Volterra at, ascribed to Giotto, 6, (14).
,, the Pisan sea, 4, (11).
Pisano, Nicolo, 12, (22).
Places.

For various places named, see s. Arena, Assisi, Avignon, Bouiges,
British Museum, Carrara, Castello, Fesole, Florence, Mil.nn,
Naples, Orvieto, Padua, Paris, Pisa, Ravenna, Rheims, Rome,
Siena, Venice, Veruna.
Poets, originality of, 15, (28).
Pope. See s. Benedict, Boniface.

Popery, efforts of, against signs of Reformation, 3, (10).
Precision, value of, in art, 7, (16).
Pre-Raphaelites, Giotto and the modern, 12 C, (24).

of Italy, their truth, 15, (27).
Presentation of Christ in the Temple, by Giotto and others,

xviii.
Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, by Giotto and

others, viii.
Protestant interest in the Virgin, 26, (43).

INDEX. 2 11

Protevangelion, the, quoted, 26 n., (44 «.), i, iii, vi, vii, x, xvi.

Proverb, origin of Giotto's O, 5, (14).

Prudence, Giotto's (Arena), 25 71., (43); App. p. 172.

Psalms, the fifteen psalms of degrees, viii.

Purse, round the neck, sign of shame in mediseval art, 1 7i. , (7-8).

Rainbow, no chiaroscuro in a, 20, (34).
Raphael, angel, appears to Joachim, v.

,, ,, distinguished by Giotto from Gabriel, v.

Raphael, Sanzio, not akin to Giotto, 19, (33).

" Betrothal of the Virgin " by (Milan), xi.
Ravenna, Giotto at, 18, (31).
Reformation, early signs of, in Italy, 3, (10).
Religion and art, xxxviii.

,, ,, always co-existent, 14, (25).

,, ,, progressive art always religious, ib.

Sees. Bible, God, Popery, Protestant.
Rembrandt, Titian and, 20, (35).
Resurrection, Giotto's, xxxvi.
Reynolds, Sir J., and " heroic" drapery, 23, (38).
Rheims Cathedral, divided Annunciation at, xiii.
Rivalry, effect on art of, xxxviii.
Rivers, appreciation of, in east and west, north and south, xxii.

See s. Jordan.
Robert, King, of Italy receives Giotto, 18, (31).
Rods, Bringing of, to the High Priest, Giotto's, ix.

,, Watching of the, Giotto's, xi.
Rogers's Italy, quoted, 14 «., (25).
Romanesque sculpture, drapery of, 12, (22).
Rome, St. Peter's, Giotto's chapel at. 4, 5, 18, (13, 30).
Rubens, drapery of, 12 B, (24).
Rumohr on Giotto, g, (18).

Sachetti, novels of, 14, (24).

Sacrifice, burnt, rendering of, by Giotto and others, iv.

Salutation, Giotto's, xv.

Scenery between Fiesole and Florence, 4, (11).

Scrovegno, Enrico, buys the Arena Chapel, 1-3, (7-10).

,, ,, death at Venice, 3, (10).

,, ,, his monument in Padua, 3, (10).

,, Reginald (father of Enrico), avarice of, i, (7).

2 12 ; mDEX.

Sculpture, French, 1200-1300, 11, (19).

Selvatico un the Arena Chapel and the Godenti, 2 «. , 25 (9 n. , 40).
Sentiment, modern, and painting, 24, (38),
Sershale, G. F. , woodcut by, App. p. 170.
Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, "maiden medita-
tion," XV.
Siena, artists of, temp. Giotto, 5, (13).
Simeon, the prophet, by Giotto, xviii.
Spenser's Faerie Queene, quoted, App. pp. 168, 179, 186.
Stieglitz on the Arena Chapel, 25, (40).
Streets, misery of our English, xxxviii.
Subjects, early Italian, and modern painting, 24, (38).
Supper, the Last, Giotto, xxviii.
Symbolism in art, 23, (38).

Temperance, Giotto's (Arena), 25 n., (43) ; App. p. 175.
Temple, the cleansing of the, xxvi.

,, fifteen stairs of, viii. See s. Presentation, Virgin.
Tintoret a greater colourist than Titian, 20, (35).
,, works of:

San Cassano, Venice, xxxiv.
San Rocco, Venice (Crucifixion), ib.
Titian, Giotto and, 19, (33).
,, Rembrandt and, 20, (35).
,, Tintoret, and, ib. See s. Tintoret.
,, Works by :

Ascension never painted by him, \xxvii.
Assumption, ib.
Entombment, ib.
Padua, frescoes, 19, (33).
Scourging of Christ, xxxii.
Traditions, sacred, giowth of, 14, (25).
Tranblation, difticulty of faithful, 22, (37).
Trinity, the Holy. See s. God.
Truth, rarity of respect for, 14, (25).

Ugliness. See s. Evil.

Vandyke, drapery of, 12 B, (24).
Vasari, errors of, 4, (iil

INDEX. ■' 213

Vasari, on Giotto, 4, 5-6, 18, (11, 13-14, 31), xiv.
Vatican, decoration of, by Giotto, 4, (13).
Venetian art, love of bars and stripes in, 19, (33).
Venice. See s. Scrovegno, Tintoret.
Verona, Giotto at, 18, (31).
Veronese, Paul, works by :

Christ bearing His Cross, xxxiii.
Marriage in Cana.
Vespignano, Giotto's childhood at, 4, (11).
Virgin Mary, Life of, by Giotto, 25, (43).

Birth of, by Giotto and earlier, vii, xvi.

Betrothal of, xi.

Grandmother of. See s. Yfaya.

Mother of the. See s. Anna.

Presentation of, viii.

Return home of, xii.

And see App. p. 194.
Virtues and Vices, Giotto's (Arena Chapel), App. p. 167 u.
171 seqq.
,, ,, Latin inscriptions under, App. p. 172 w.

Water, views of its power, in different chmates, xxii.

Wings, painting of angels, xvi.

Wise Men, the Angel and the, by Giotto, xvi.

,, ,, Gifts of the, by Giotto and others, xvii.

Wood-engravings best for Giotto's pictures, 19, (33).
Wordsworth quoted, " We live by admiration, hope, and love,'

App. p. 183.
Wrath. See s. Anger.

Yfaya, grandmother of the Virgin, i.

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